Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk has admitted that he made a mistake in the build-up to the World Cup by not taking a break from first-team duties before and following the tournament which eventually caught up with him.
The Netherlands international suffered a serious injury to his knee at the start of the 20/21 campaign in a match against Everton and returned with great success during the last campaign.
However, the centre-back has not been the same player this season and has struggled for the Reds, along with most of Jurgen Klopp’s squad.
Following the World Cup, Van Dijk picked up another injury to his hamstring which saw him miss seven matches, and the superstar defender has now admitted that he made a mistake and should have rested his body before and after the World Cup in Qatar.
Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk admits making a mistake by not resting before World Cup
“I came back from quite a complex injury. That takes treatment, that takes time, it takes getting used to and adaptation,” said Van Dijk via the Telegraph.
“Coming back from the knee injury, I played all the Premier League games because everybody wants to be out there and I want to be out there. What caught up is that I played too many games at a time. When it’s game day I want to play and I’ll do everything possible to play, but I could have also thought before the World Cup, ‘let’s rest a little bit in order to be ready’.
“But I didn’t because I want to play and I want to be influential for this football club because I love this club and I work each and every day to be successful for this club. But it caught up with me unfortunately, my body. I’m not a robot and I think going into the World Cup, having the World Cup, and then doing nothing for a week and coming back was maybe not the right decision.”