Having missed out on captaining the Netherlands at Euro 2020 because of an ACL injury, Virgil van Dijk will be looking to make the most of his 2022 World Cup campaign in Qatar.
The Liverpool defender’s tournament will get underway on its second day, with the Netherlands' clash with Senegal the third game on Monday 21 November, following on from England and Wales' maiden matches against Iran and the United States respectively after Sunday's opener in which Ecuador beat Qatar 2-0.
When the draw was made back in April, it didn’t go unnoticed, at Anfield at least, that the Oranje Army would be locking horns with the Teranga Lions in Group A, setting up a intriguing battle between Van Dijk and Reds team-mate Sadio Mane. Alas, the forward, who would end up leaving Anfield for Bayern Munich back in June, has since been ruled out of the tournament because of injury.
