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Liverpool’s Van Dijk Needs Surgery, a Cruel Twist in a Tough Year

LIVERPOOL, England — Virgil van Dijk walked gingerly around the side of the field, ruefully shaking his head, muttering under his breath. He stopped to offer Jürgen Klopp a grimace and then trudged on, out of Goodison Park. That will be the last Liverpool, and the Premier League, sees of the Dutchman for quite some time.

How long, precisely, is not yet known. On Sunday, a consultant confirmed what both the player and his coach feared in that brief pause in the Merseyside derby: Van Dijk has damaged the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.