Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk suffered a nasty injury during last week’s 1-0 win over Atalanta, but it has not kept the centre-back from taking to the field.
Van Dijk is now the only player to feature in every minute of Liverpool’s ridiculous run of seven games in 22 days so far.
The Dutchman has clocked 10-and-a-half hours on the pitch in three weeks, with Alexis Mac Allister‘s own tireless run eventually broken as he was rested against Fulham on Sunday.
He has done so while carrying a painful injury, having dislocated his finger in the early stages of the Europa League second-leg victory over Atalanta.
Speaking to journalists on Sunday, Van Dijk revealed the collision early on in Bergamo – which forced play to be stopped while he received treatment – left his finger “pointing in wrong direction.”
“In the first minute against Atalanta it was pointing in the wrong direction,” he told the Liverpool Echo.
“It’s dislocated, yeah. I did it once before against Norway with Holland. It’s only a finger!”
While the injury may have left those watching on wincing, Van Dijk is clearly unaffected and played a key role in the win over Fulham.
The likelihood is that, all being well, the 32-year-old keeps his place for all of the final five games of the season, which would bring him to 48 appearances for the campaign.
“We want to win it”
He has continued to be a mainstay after inheriting the captain’s armband, and he could still end the season by lifting the Premier League trophy.
“We had six games to go and Fulham was a very big one. We showed a reaction after some disappointing games,” Van Dijk contiued.
“We did our job, we won. That’s what it’s all about. It was a good performance. Now it’s time to recover. We go again in three days, big game, Merseyside derby.
“We want to win it. That’s the mindset we always have. They will have that as well. Now we need to recover and take responsibility to be ready for Wednesday.
“It’s demanding for all of us. But we have that responsibility to do everything in our power to be ready for it. We’ll have a very light training session on Tuesday but a tactical one.”
There will be no more preventative measures over Van Dijk’s very minor injury – as it puts it: it’s only a finger!
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