Medical expert salutes Virgil Van Dijk’s injury ‘admission’ as Liverpool return date named
Liverpool superstar Virgil Van Dijk may have avoided a more serious injury by admitting he did not feel “100 per cent” in the FA Cup final against Chelsea last Saturday (14 May).
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in medicine data analysis.
Van Dijk, 30, was taken off with knee pain just before the end of normal time in the final at Wembley, which the Reds eventually won 6-5 on penalties.
As quoted by club media after the triumph, the Dutch centre-back revealed that he had played on for 20 minutes but eventually requested to withdraw.
Jurgen Klopp claimed that the “target” is for Van Dijk to return for Liverpool’s final league game against Wolves on Sunday (22 May), per The Guardian on Monday (16 May).
Dinnery saluted the player and management team for taking the most sensible course of action with a Champions League final right around the corner.
“By his own admission, he could have continued in that final but didn’t feel 100 per cent confident that he could do a full-on sprint,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“As you go into extra time, the demands on the body increase. Chelsea were pushing for that win and bringing on new players in attack. To carry on is putting yourself at greater risk.
“The decision was quite right to bring on Joel Matip in his place. I’m sure there will have been one eye on the Champions League as well because anything serious at this stage would rule you out.”
Liverpool face Real Madrid in the final Paris next Saturday (22 May).
Van Dijk’s 50 appearances this term have yielded three goals and five assists.
In other news, pundit tells Liverpool to sign Roberto Firmino replacement after source’s £80million reveal.