Virgil van Dijk has broken his silence following the horror tackle from Jordan Pickford which has left him requiring surgery.
The Liverpool defender faces a battle to play again this season as he prepares to go under the knife to deal with a serious injury to his anterior cruciate ligament.
Van Dijk lasted just 11 minutes of Saturday’s Merseyside derby after Pickford’s wild lunge took him out in the box and forced him out of action.
He now faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines but took to Twitter to provide an update to his fans.
“This afternoon I met with a leading consultant to start the process of planning the finer details of my rehabilitation following the incident yesterday,” van Dijk wrote.
(Image: PA)
“I’m now fully focused on my recovery and will do everything I can to be back as quickly as possible.
“Despite the obvious disappointment, I’m a firm believer that within difficulty lies opportunity and with God’s help I’m going to make sure I return better, fitter and stronger than ever before.
“In football, as in life, I believe everything happens for a reason and it’s important to keep level headed whether going through the highs or the lows.
“With the support of my wife, kids, family and everyone at Liverpool, I’m ready for the challenge ahead.
“I’d like to thank everyone for the messages of support, it’s meant a huge amount to me and my family, and I’ll now be doing everything possible to support my teammates in any way that I can ahead of a big few weeks as I take my recovery day by day. I’ll be back.”
Liverpool are yet to release further details of the extent of the injury van Dijk suffered, or the expected time frame for which he will be out of action.
Several of his Liverpool teammates have sent messages of support to the centre-back on social media.
Reds captain Jordan Henderson was among them, and wrote: “The comeback is always stronger than the setback… Recover well my brother, We’ll be waiting for you.”
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