Virgil Van Dijk has joked that Sadio Mane will need a lot of luck if the Liverpool teammates come up against each other in the World Cup.
In quotes carried by The Times, Van Dijk congratulated Mane on qualifying. He then took a playful swipe at his nation’s chances in the tournament, warning him he better watch out if he comes up against the Dutch.
“For Sadio, I wish him all the best. If he is in our [World Cup] group I wish him good luck because he is going to need it,” said Van Dijk.
Virgil also had some words of consolation for Mohamed Salah after he was unfortunately on the other end of Mane and Senegal’s victory.
“I feel sorry for Mo and I feel sorry for Egypt,” said the 30-year-old. “I am sure he will turn this disappointment hopefully into success. We have still everything to play for [at Liverpool] so there’s a lot to achieve for him.”
Reds missing out
As it was in February’s African Cup of Nations final, the Liverpool squad will have to temper their excitement for Mane with commiserations for Salah.
Every player wants to play in the World Cup. Hopefully Salah can find some solace in the fact that teammates such as Luis Diaz, Naby Keita and Kostas Tsimikas also failed to qualify.
There are others like Joe Gomez, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Roberto Firmino who seem to have been frozen out of their teams for the moment.
Thiago Alcantara missed out on the latest Spain squad. He also barely featured at last summer’s European Championship. Perhaps even the silky Spaniard could be overlooked for the tournament.
For Van Dijk, the competition will be his first ever one on the international stage. Holland failed to qualify in 2018 and injury of course ruled him out of last summer’s Euros.
Prior to that, he didn’t make the squad for Euro 2016. Amazingly, the centre-back only made his debut in October 2015, aged twenty-four. Six-and-a-half years later, he is now the captain and lynchpin for Holland.
Van Dijk’s story just goes to show that participation in these tournaments isn’t a given for top players. Salah will be missed in Qatar, but the spectacle will go on without him.
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