By scoring for Liverpool, Virgil van Dijk ended a difficult time with the Orange, and during the game against Aston Villa, he once more considered the missed penalty in the World Cup encounter against Argentina.
Van Dijk, the skipper of the Dutch national football team, was the first to shoot in the crucial penalty shootout, but his shot missed the target. Van Dijk used his shyness against Aston Villa after the World Cup. “This was crucial, and it’s fantastic to be back in such good shape. In general, I’m happy with it. Some of the players haven’t featured in the Premier League in four or five weeks, of course,” the defender said.
“Life goes on”
The irritating moment from the match with Argentina needed to be brought up after a brief discussion of the game. Van Dijk was able to put everything into context by saying, “Life goes on.” The captain has, however, truly suffered as a result of his error. He added, “After the game, I had trouble falling asleep, which is understandable. After falling 0–2 points behind, you are quite close. Unfortunately, you fail to make a crucial penalty, and you are then eliminated. Then, you can feel how much it aches. The following day, night, and evening were all quite difficult. After that, I was detached from the world of sports with my family on vacation. The most important aspect of our lives is that our family has a great time together. That was very helpful.”
Van Dijk returned for manager Jürgen Klopp’s team after missing Liverpool’s first match following the World Cup (the lost league cup game with Manchester City). For Liverpool, the matches now come right after one another in a hectic paced schedule; they will play Leicester City this year followed by Brentford just after the new year.
