Van Dijk was substituted after 10 minutes of the Merseyside Derby
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp indicated he was concerned about the injury picked up by Virgil van Dijk during Saturday’s Merseyside Derby.
Van Dijk was clattered by Jordan Pickford in a controversial incident during the early moments of the 2-2 draw at Goodison Park and had to be substituted shortly afterwards. The Everton goalkeeper, who went unpunished for the tackle, has since sent his apologies to the defender via England teammate Jordan Henderson.
With Liverpool supporters fearing a lengthy lay-off for the Dutchman, Klopp admitted after the game that the early signs were not positive.
“It was a clear penalty I saw and then we saw the flag went up,” the German said about the incident. “I thought they would still look at the foul but that didn’t happen,” said Klopp.
“I don’t want to say Jordan Pickford wanted to do it but it is not a challenge how a goalie can do in the box.
“Virgil played I don’t know how many games in a row, he plays with pain, but he couldn’t play on and that’s not good.”
Pickford went on to make a string of important saves in the second half of the game, keeping Liverpool down to just two goals.
He did fumble a Jordan Henderson shot in stoppage time which appeared to have resulted in a late winner for the visitors, only for Sadio Mane to have been ruled offside after a VAR check.
Klopp also spoke of his frustration at the circumstances that ruled out Henderson’s goal as well as potentially losing Thiago Alcantara to a dangerous lunge from Richarlison (which was deemed worthy of a red card).
“We lost one player in a situation where VAR was not involved with Virgil and maybe another one in the red-card situation and scored a legitimate goal, which didn’t count,” Klopp said.
“Obviously not our day, but the performance was the performance I wanted to see.”
