Virgil van Dijk only played 45 minutes at Liverpool on Monday evening. The 31-year-old centre-back was substituted by Jürgen Klopp at half-time against Brentford when they were 2-0 down. Van Dijk seemed to visit the dressing rooms uninjured, but could suffer from complaints, although it is also quite possible that Klopp blames his captain for his team’s hesitant defensive performance.
Van Dijk is considered a rock at Liverpool, who is normally never replaced and plays everything. The the Dutch-international has only left the field prematurely once since his return from a cruciate ligament injury in 2020. That was in the FA Cup final in May 2022 against Chelsea (0-0, win on penalties). Then Van Dijk indicated in the half-time of extra time that he was struggling with complaints and his substitution was therefore not tactical.
Liverpool, visiting Brentford on Monday evening, has a remarkable amount of difficulty defending standard situations, corner kicks in particular. The home team scored no less than three times from a corner before half-time, although one goal was rejected due to very minimal offside. With the second valid goal against, in the 42nd minute, Van Dijk arrived much too late at Yoane Wissa to block the attacker’s shot.
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