Liverpool fans across the globe will have been extremely worried when defender Virgil van Dijk was taken off early in the second half of the 3-0 win over Southampton with a rib injury.
However, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said that the issue is not serious but confirmed that it is still causing the defender some problems as it is painful.
Speaking at his press conference before Liverpool’s game with Chelsea on Wednesday night, the Reds’ boss said:
[Virgil is] much better, still a bit painful. We will see how we deal with that. Not too serious, but not nothing. It needs to settle. We will see how he is today and make a decision [about his availability for Wednesday].
In truth, it was always likely that Van Dijk will have been rested for the EFL Cup game anyway as the Reds have a tough run of fixtures coming up.
It looks like the Dutchman will need to play through the pain of the injury against Chelsea on Saturday, as well as in the upcoming games against Napoli and Manchester City.
