Jurgen Klopp has detailed the key reasons behind Virgil van Dijk returning to top form since his return from a serious knee injury.
Van Dijk has been an influential presence in the Reds' quest for a quadruple, underlined by an impressive showing in the Champions League semi-final second leg win at Villarreal on Tuesday.
The defender was absent for almost nine months after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in October 2020 before being thrown into the starting line-up on the opening weekend at Norwich City. Van Dijk has since missed only two Premier League games after testing positive for coronavirus in December, with no Liverpool player having featured for more minutes in the top flight this season.
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And with the Dutchman expected to help thwart Tottenham Hotspur dangermen Harry Kane and Son Heung-min this evening as the Reds look to once again leapfrog leaders Manchester City, Klopp has outlined the player's route back to his place as arguably the world's best defender.
"In situations like this there are always different reasons," said the Reds boss. "The first is the surgeon, number two is the player because there were darker moments in that period when he was not really over the moon about the situation and we were not. Not because somebody made a mistake but just because he was not around, he needed time to get away from everything.
"The surgeon, player and, the third reason, the rehab team. All three worked really well. Time is number four, there was no rush. I know there was that time (where Van Dijk was rumoured to be in contention to feature for Holland in the Euros last summer) but there was no chance.
"At the moment he said ‘No’, our rehab team said for sure he needs another bam, bam, bam weeks. We didn’t think even think about Holland, it just came up because it was a public thing to talk about - ‘will he be ready for that? Is it close?’ because you count the months, but there was no chance."
Klopp added: "Having then a first full pre-season since he started playing for Holland, he managed it good through that because we had all the other boys available as well. And he gained fitness through playing. The first part of the season we could see from time to time here a little bit less, here a little bit less, but you expect that.
"If it was that easy (to get back to top-level performance) then a lot more players would be world class as well. It’s not easy. We came through that as well. Here we go (knocks table), long may it continue. "
