Virgil van Dijk will find it hard to forget the World Cup in Qatar. The centre-back is now back in action with his Liverpool team, but the World Cup is still fresh in his mind.

Louis van Gaal‘s side lost on penalties to Argentina in the quarter-finals and Van Dijk missed the first spot kick, a mistake he could not get out of his head.

“I couldn’t sleep for two days after that game,” he told Viaplay.

“You’re so close, even after going 2-0 down. Unfortunately, you miss an important shot. It hurts a lot.

“I had a very tough afternoon and evening. I disconnected from football for a while and took the opportunity to be with my family. That’s the most important thing in life.”

Van Dijk refocuses on Liverpool

Van Dijk returned to competition with Liverpool in the best possible way: scoring and winning.

The Reds beat Aston Villa 3-1 on Monday evening and the centre-back scored the second goal in the 37th minute from a Trent Alexander Arnold corner.

After several deflections, the ball was played to Mohamed Salah who set up Van Dijk. The centre-back scored for Jurgen Klopp‘s side to make it 2-0 and it was undoubtedly the best way to forget about the World Cup.

“It was time to score again, it was important to come back like this,” said the centre-back.

Liverpool are attempting to work their way back into the Champions League places after a very poor start to the 2022/23 Premier League season.