Virgil van Dijk has promised to Louis van Gaal that the Netherlands national team will fight to make their coach’s World Cup one he will “never forget” after he announced his cancer diagnosis.
The 70-year-old admitted on Sunday that he is undergoing chemotherapy for an aggressive form of prostate cancer - something he had not told his players about.
Liverpool defender and Dutch captain Van Dijk, 30, stated ahead of his club’s Champions League game against Benfica that he was “in shock” at the news, and that he had immediately messaged Van Gaal.
“Yes definitely,” he replied when asked by reporters on Monday if Van Gaal keeping his diagnosis away from his players summed up the coach’s personality.
He continued: “I was also in shock last night when I heard his interview. He's getting his film out next week, so I was just wondering how he would promote it a little bit and speak about his life, and then obviously that was a big shock.
“I messaged him after the interview. It definitely says a lot about him. I said to him as well, he's probably not that type of guy that needs a lot of sympathy, that's how he is.
“But I told him as well that we are definitely going to be there for him as a group whenever he needs it, and hopefully we can also make it a World Cup for him to never forget.”
Football has rallied around former Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Manchester United coach Van Gaal after the announcement.
“I think you don’t tell people you work with like that because it might influence their choices, their decisiveness, so I thought they shouldn’t know,’ he said. “You don’t die from prostate cancer, at least not in 90 per cent of the cases.
“It is usually other underlying diseases that kill you. But I had a pretty aggressive form, got irradiated 25 times. Then you have a lot of management to do in order to get through life.”
The Netherlands are drawn into Group A of the 2022 World Cup, in which they will face Qatar, Senegal and Ecuador.
