Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk on his 2020 ACL injury: ‘I returned to where I wanted to be.”

Liverpool centre-back Virgil Van Dijk (32) has given a wide-ranging interview to the monthly magazine France Football, thus making the cover of the 2024 January feature. The Netherlands captain notably mentions how France and Milan AC forward Olivier Giroud is the toughest opponent he has ever faced and what he felt when he lost the 2019 Ballon d’Or to Lionel Messi.

On the back of a title-winning Premier League campaign with Jürgen Klopp’s Reds, Van Dijk’s career brutally came to a halt on October 17th, 2020 when a collision with Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made him rupture his ACL on his right knee. The Liverpool man sat out the remainder of the season. “The first two weeks were horrible. I could not do anything. You lied on your bed, losing your muscles and watching yourself get slimmer“, Van Dijk remembers. “The only way out was to get back up. So we took a family trip to Dubai. I have to admit it was one of the best moments of my life. Seeing my wife and kids every day gave me a huge boost. I had my routine and my physiotherapist lived with us. I could return as fast as possible, in the best shape possible.“

‘I’m the same player as before’

Van Dijk was instrumental in Liverpool’s 2021-2022 season, where the Reds won the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup, as well as finishing Premier League and Champions League runners-up. After a struggling 2022-2023 season from Liverpool as a whole, Van Dijk looks back to his commanding best now. Something he has never doubted. “Those doubts only occurred in the aftermath of the operation. I had a lot of time to think and reflect. I did not sleep well. I was tired and in pain. I also heard that 75% of players suffering from an ACL injury had struggled to return to their form“, Van Dijk adds. “I have done my research and I worked to recover my level. I never gave up and I knew I was getting there. Today, I returned to where I wanted to be. I’m the same player as before.“

Van Dijk said to France Football that he wants to share his experience of dealing with an ACL injury with Liverpool teammate Joël Matip, who sustained a similar injury last December. “I felt awful for him. I know exactly what he will go through. He’s a great lad. I want to be there for him as much as possible. I’m this way because of everything I went through. To feel and think about others is something that should be normal in life.“

GFFN | Bastien Cheval