By Daily Sports on December 19, 2019

Liverpool will closely monitor the fitness of Virgil van DIjk ahead of their Club World Cup final on Saturday against Flamengo.

The Netherlands international was a late withdrawal for the Reds' semi-final clash against Monterrey, which they won 2-1 courtesy of a late goal from Roberto Firmino .

Van Dijk struggled to train in the build-up to the match with manager Jurgen Klopp giving no guarantees he would recover in time for the decider.

“It was an easy decision actually because he couldn’t train," Klopp said post-match about the defender's omission.

“Yes, he was yesterday on the [training] pitch for a couple of minutes until the media left [the session] and then, unfortunately, he had to leave as well. Not because of the media, just because he didn’t feel well.

“So yesterday no training was possible, this morning no training possible, so it was an easy decision – he couldn’t play. It was difficult for Hendo to deal with, but he did really good.

“We will see, I don’t know how quick he can recover. We will see.”

In Van Dijk's absence, Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson started at centre-back with the Reds forced to dig deep to edge past their Mexican opponents. (Goal)

•PHOTO: Virgil Van Dijk

Source Daily Sports

Posted December 19, 2019

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