Liverpool and Holland star Virgil van Dijk has revealed how badly he struggled after suffering an ACL injury.

The centre-back was at the prime of his career with club and country at the time.

He had to spend the rest of the 2020-2021 season on the sidelines after suffering the injury in October 2020, which impacted his club's form as well.

While speaking with Manchester United legend Gary Neville on 'The Overlap' on Sky, Van Dijk stated: “You know as a football player, if you have done something with your knee, that's the worst you can get as a football player.

“When that moment happened and I was in the van on the way to the clinic to get a scan immediately, I was just praying and hoping there.

“I went down and I always feel when I go down, I have to get up. I have to feel, I get knocks all the time but I feel if I'm standing up, I feel that I'm fine.

“I stood up and I walked and I felt the instability immediately. When I'm walking around the pitch, so I had to go all the way to the corner of the stadium, 'I'm thinking what can this be? Is this it?'

“As we are in the corner, I couldn't walk anymore. I was limping. I did all these tests in the dressing room. There was a bit of a feeling that it was only going to be the MCL, so the inside. So I had a bit of hope that it could be positive, it could be okay.

“MCL done, three months and you'll be fine. Euros are coming in the summer. I went for the scan and I went home. I was home alone at that time actually, my wife and kids were back home in Holland. They flew back the next morning just to be with me.

“I got a call from my physio and he said, 'It's bad news'. Then the world collapsed. It was very, very tough to deal with."