JAKARTA - The Dutch and Senegal national teams will meet in the second match of Group A of the 2022 World Cup. That agenda should be a moment for Virgil van Dijk to meet his former Liverpool partner, Sadio Mane.
However, Van Dijk's disappointment was felt because the reunion plan failed. Sadio Mane was dropped from the World Cup squad due to a tendon injury.
This situation makes Van Dijk concerned and empathetic. However, Senegal without Mane being acknowledged by Van Dijk will still be a strong team.
"I know he (Sadio Mane) is facing this (injury) problem bravely, but this situation is bad and I feel bad for him too," Van Dijk was quoted as saying by Talksport.
"I want to tell Sadio Mane that regardless of whether he plays or not, the Dutch versus Senegal match will be very difficult. After all, he has a very fantastic team," he continued.
Van Dijk knows very well the situation that Mane feels is heavy, he has to miss a grand agenda like the 2022 World Cup. Even though so far Mane has also been the spearhead for the Senegal national team.
"Of course I have spoken to Sadio Mane. I am also sad because he is injured. This is not a situation that deserves to be celebrated and I experienced a similar situation when I missed the 2022 European Cup," explained Van Dijk.
"We players work very hard to get to this stage. Sadio Mane is also an important figure for his country," he concluded.
Sadio Mane came to Anfield in 2017, one year later Van Dijk came from Southampton. Both were good friends until Mane finally decided to move to Bayern Munich in the summer of 2022.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
