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Virgil van Dijk ‘not happy’ with ex-Liverpool teammate Sadio Mane to miss World Cup reunion.
Dutch professional footballer Virgil van Dijk has expressed his severe disappointment at not being able to compete against Sadio Mane, a former teammate from Liverpool, at the World Cup.
Both Mane’s Senegal and Van Dijk’s Netherlands will play each other on Monday in the tournament’s first match of Group A, which also includes hosts Qatar and Ecuador.
Mane, who relocated from Liverpool to Bayern Munich over the summer, won’t be playing because he sustained an injury while representing his team.
The forward was initially expected to miss the entire World Cup, but after rumours of witch doctors being used to hasten his recovery surfaced, Senegal’s captain was included in their 26-man squad.
While he is set to miss the game against Holland, the 30-year-old may well be fit enough to play some part in the remaining group games.
Dutch captain Van Dijk hopes that is the case but admitted that he is gutted for Mane having previously been in a similar predicament.
‘I was feeling sad for him, first and foremost. I’m not happy in this case as I’ve been in that situation where I missed the Euros,’ the 31-year-old said.
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‘We as players work so hard to get to this stage and he has been such an important figure in that group for their country.
‘I know for a fact that he will put a brave face on it, but it’s tough and I feel sorry for him.’
Together, Mane and Van Dijk helped Liverpool win the Premier League and the Champions League over the past four years, contributing significantly to their extraordinary success.
Even though Van Dijk has long been regarded as the best centre-back in the world, Qatar 2022 will be his first major international competition after the Netherlands lost qualifying for both Euro 2016 and the World Cup 2018, and the player missed Euro 2020 due to a serious injury.
‘For me it is a boyhood dream. I’m really excited about playing against the best players in world football, leading out my country and representing my country in the best way possible,’ Van Dijk added.
‘I’m 31 now but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to enjoy this as much and maybe it is an even better time for me to go there because of everything that I have experienced and also we have a great group so I am very excited about it.’
The Netherlands and Senegal are the favourites to advance out of Group A, and if they do, they might play either England or Wales in the round of 16.