Virgil van Dijk believes the former West Ham goalkeeper Adrián will be able to do a job for Liverpool as the Spaniard prepares to complete a whirlwind week by appearing in Wednesday’s European Super Cup final against Chelsea in Istanbul.
This time a week ago the 32-year-old Adrián did not have a club. Liverpool signed him only on Monday as cover for the departing Simon Mignolet; on Friday he was making his debut as a first-half substitute when Alisson suffered a calf injury as he made a clearance. As things stand, with Liverpool flying out to Turkey on Monday, he is the only fit goalkeeper at the club.
“Alisson is a very important player for us and we don’t know what the damage is yet but we do know we’ll have to deal with it,” Van Dijk said. “I didn’t get the chance to say very much to Adrián except ‘good luck’ when he came on. But he’s an experienced goalkeeper at that stage in his career where he can probably slot into a new team quite easily.
“He’s been through a few situations in his time. I’m sure he’ll be fine if he just does his normal thing.”
Liverpool intend to give Alisson’s injury a day or so to settle before assessing the results of a scan and, if the prognosis involves a lengthy lay-off, they may have to recruit a free-agent goalkeeper to act as cover for Adrián. Two younger goalkeepers, Caoimhin Kelleher and Vitezslav Jaros, are out of action with minor hand and arm injuries, making it difficult for Jürgen Klopp to name a goalkeeper for the substitutes’ bench. “We are a bit short,” the Liverpool manager admitted. “You don’t want to be in a situation where only one goalie is fit, but that’s how it is.”
Better news for Liverpool in their 4-1 win over Norwich on Friday evening was the form of Divock Origi and the return after injury of Joe Gomez, who missed the second half of last season after breaking a leg on a slippery pitch at Burnley. Gomez was playing at right-back that day, though centre-half is his true position and, with Trent Alexander‑Arnold and Andy Robertson now established as Liverpool’s first-choice full-backs, there is a feeling the 22-year-old former Charlton defender could become Van Dijk’s regular partner as long as he stays clear of injury.
“Joe did well in his first game back,” Van Dijk said. “He’s a fantastic player. We have a lot of centre-backs to choose from at the moment and they are all fit, so it’s up to the manager to make a decision each week.
“I’m just happy to see Joe fit again after such a long period out and back to playing at a high level.”
Liverpool and Chelsea could probably do without an arduous trip to Istanbul in the first week of the new season though, with Frank Lampard’s side playing Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday the London side appear to have the worse of the deal. At least Liverpool have had a couple of extra days to prepare after playing Norwich on Friday.
“All we ever do is concentrate on that game that’s immediately ahead of us,” Van Dijk said. “We’ll take the challenge of Istanbul for what it is. We know Chelsea have a lot of quality. They won the Europa League so we know what we are going to face and we will be fully focused on the task.
“We will analyse them properly over the next couple of days to make sure we are fully ready for another big game.
“I don’t know if Chelsea are going to be our rivals in the Premier League at the end of the season, that’s all too far away to talk about, but it already seems clear that the league is going to be tougher this year because a lot of the teams near the top have improved.”
Though Wednesday’s match is an inevitable reminder of Liverpool’s status as European champions, Klopp is determined to focus on the future. He looked bemused when asked why the team had not paraded the European Cup before kick-off. “Nobody told me I had to,” Klopp said.
“I touched the European Cup on the match day and the day after, and since then, no. I didn’t have a reason to. I know how it feels and people know how it looks.
“If somebody expected [something before kick-off] they should have told me, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have done it because we are now in the new season.”
He added: “Enough celebrations. Nobody has to congratulate me any more, even though still they are doing it. I’m really fine with everything I heard about it. Now let’s play the new season.”
The manager was relaxed about Norwich scoring the only goal of the second half. “We are early in the season and some mistakes happen that will not happen during the season. But it’s all good.
“If somebody would have told me before the game we would win 4-1, I would have taken it easily,” Klopp said. “If somebody would have told me we’d play the first 60 minutes like we played tonight, I’d say: ‘OK, I take it.’”
