Liverpool suffered their first defeat to Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday and Virgil van Dijk has allayed fears of a fresh knock ahead of the Champions League clash with LASK.
Andoni Iraola’s side were without Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai. Lewis Koumas led the attack in his first Premier League start.
Liverpool were the better side for the first hour. The match was goalless at half-time and stayed even until the 62nd minute, when Ryan Gravenberch was sent off for a second yellow card.
Erling Haaland (65th), Jeremy Doku (68th) and Rayan Cherki (78th) then scored for City.
Liverpool left Anfield with another fitness concern, this time involving their captain.
Virgil van Dijk said he took a knock to his calf during the game.
Speaking to reporters at Anfield, he described it in blunt terms.
“I had a little knock in the end on my calf which is pretty painful,” Van Dijk said. “So I’m going home to get some treatment to be ready for Wednesday.”
The defender made clear he wants to play.
“If I’m fit and ready to play I want to play,” he said. “But at the end of the day it is the manager’s decision and we need everyone.”
Liverpool travel to Linz to face LASK in the Champions League on Wednesday. Kick-off at the Raiffeisen Arena is 5:45pm BST. LASK lost 1-0 at AEK Athens in their league-phase opener.
Van Dijk, 35, has played every minute of Liverpool’s Premier League and Champions League games this season. He has missed only the Carabao Cup win over Tottenham.
Liverpool have now started a run of four games in 10 days.
The squad is stretched. Isak and Gakpo both left their national teams injured, Isak with a thigh problem and Gakpo with an ankle injury. Szoboszlai also missed the City game.
Iraola has admitted it is unlikely that any of the three will be available for the trip to Linz.
Support DaveOCKOP and enjoy the site completely ad-free. You’ll get an uninterrupted browsing experience while helping us continue to deliver the latest Liverpool news, breaking stories and exclusives. Go ad-free today.