According to the Mirror, Georginio Wijnaldum has admitted that ‘none’ of Liverpool’s players ‘slept’ after it was confirmed that Virgil van Dijk would be sidelined with a serious injury.
The Mirror report that the centre-back suffered a grade three tear to the anterior cruciate ligament on his right knee, with this being inflicted by a horrendous challenge from Jordan Pickford.
It’s added that Van Dijk could be sidelined for up to nine months, with this moment the talking point after the action-packed Merseyside derby ended in a 2-2 draw.
Wijnaldum, who is a teammate of Van Dijk at international level as well, admitted that the blow was ‘really hard’ for the players to take, with it still leaving a ‘bad feeling’ days after.
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Here’s what Wijnaldum had to say on the situation:
“This was different than normal, the way it happened was really hard for us, and everyone still has a really bad feeling about it.”
“None of the players slept. It’s a hard one to take and it was a hard one for the team.”
It’s a real shame to see that one of the world’s best players will likely miss the entire season, Van Dijk’s long-term blow has been the most talked about injury since Mohamed Salah’s in the 2018 Champions League final.
The worryingly low level of officiating in the Premier League was clear after the incident, as Jordan Pickford essentially escaped a red card due to VAR studying an offside call instead of serious foul play.