Liverpool starVirgil van Dijk suffered a horrible injury in the 2-2 draw with city-rivals Evertonon Saturday in Premier League‘s Round 5.The Dutch defender had to be substituted in the early stages of the Merseyside derby.
“Liverpool FC can confirm Virgil van Dijk will undergo surgery on the knee injury he sustained during Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Everton.The centre-back damaged knee ligaments following an incident involving Blues goalkeeper Jordan Pickford after six minutes at Goodison Park,” the club said in a statement.
They added that nospecific timescale has been set for the 29-year-old’s return on the pitch. However, several English reports, includingbein Sports,suggest that the player may miss up to 7-8 months of action. Thus, he certainly will not make a comeback from the injury in 2020.
Virgil van Dijk-Jordan Pickford: What really happened
Liverpool were attacking deep with manyplayers in their opponents’penalty area when Van Dijk received an accurate cross down the right flank.In wasaround the sixth minute when Everton goalkeeper JordanPickford stepped up and made ahostilechallenge on the Dutch international.
The VAR room noticed the tackle and referee Michael Oliver opted to check the episode himself.Since it wasdeterminedthatVanDijkwasoffside, VAR and the referee refusedtoinvestigatePickford’sfoul for a possible red card for the dangerous tackle.
Thus,Jordan Pickford escaped unpunished for hisclumsy intervention. To make matters worse for theReds, Klopp’s side failed to win as they were held 2-2 by Carlo Ancelotti’s men.