Milner says Liverpool want to keep winning for Van Dijk

James Milner says Liverpool will try to keep winning for Virgil van Dijk, following the Dutchman’s injury.

Van Dijk is expected to miss the rest of the season after suffering cruciate ligament damage in last weekend’s 2-2 draw away to Everton. It was a horrible moment for the 29-year-old and nature of Jordan Pickford’s reckless tackle made it even more difficult to take.

It has clearly affected Liverpool’s players, too, but they bounced back in Van Dijk’s absence on Wednesday night, digging deep to earn a 1-0 win away to Ajax in the Champions League.

Speaking to the Mirror, Milner touched upon to how close Liverpool’s players are with one another, using Van Dijk as motivation to keep winning:

A lot has been going on and [there has been] a lot of emotion from all the boys.

We are a tight-knit group and when things happen to one of us they happen to all of us, so it was a performance and we wanted to make sure we got that result for Virg.

We need to keep doing that throughout the season but I think he will have been proud by how the boys dug in and defended and I’m sure he will have enjoyed it watching at home.

I saw him on Tuesday and he wished us luck. It’s football. Like I say, we are a tight-knit group and unfortunately injuries are part of football.

It makes it hard to take, how it happened, but as a group of players we have to concentrate on the next game and keep going and use that disappointment and feeling of injustice to fuel us to go on and win as many games as we can.

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It does feel as though Jurgen Klopp and his players are creating something of a siege mentality after the derby injustice, using negativity to work in their favour and going with an ‘us against the world’ approach.

I don’t think there has been a team spirit this strong at Liverpool in decades, with all the players seemingly getting along and a never-say-die attitude existing on the pitch.

The Reds squad will know that some have written off their Premier League title chances without Van Dijk – that will only spur them on further.