The Netherlands captain, who got the opening goal in Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Wolves, has played the full 90 minutes in each of his four games since a rare seven-match absence with a hamstring injury.
Van Dijk hardly takes a break when he is available for Jurgen Klopp’s side and, although his form has dipped at times this season, he goes into Sunday’s crunch meeting with Manchester United expecting no let-up for the rest of the campaign.
‘We play every three to four days so what you have to do is sacrifice quite a bit,’ said the 31-year-old. ‘I would love to spend time with my family and my kids.
‘But obviously I need to get treatment every day, make sure I’m eating the right stuff and doing the right things in order to be ready for the next game.
‘That’s the life we live and we are very privileged and I really acknowledge that but you still have to make these sacrifices. That’s what’s going on behind the scenes.’
Upon returning from cruciate knee surgery last season, Van Dijk played the full 90 minutes for 49 consecutive matches before being substituted in the FA Cup final when Liverpool beat Chelsea on penalties.
The Netherlands star, who also played every minute of 21 of his side’s 22 games before this season’s World Cup, added: ‘Obviously I came back from quite a complex injury that I had two years ago now.
‘That takes treatment, that takes time, it takes adaptation. That’s the way I have to handle myself. I played all the Premier League games because I want to be out there.
‘What caught up is I played too many games at a time.
‘I could have thought before the World Cup, “let’s rest a little bit”. But I didn’t because I want to be influential for this football club but it caught up with me, unfortunately. I’m not a robot and I think having the World Cup and then doing nothing for a week and coming back it was maybe not the right decision.’
Three wins and a draw in their last four games have left Liverpool six points adrift of the top four but Van Dijk accepts his attempts to secure a place in next season’s Champions League will take its toll. ‘You try to hit consistency and try to build up momentum,’ he said.
‘Coming back after being six weeks out, playing four games of 90 minutes in such a short space of time, I need time. Sometimes people will take it for granted and see it as normal but it isn’t.’
Fighting talk from Jurgen as Reds look to land blow
Jurgen Klopp has warned Manchester United his side will give them a ‘big fight’ on Sunday.
The Reds beat Wolves 2-0 on Wednesday thanks to goals from Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.
United, who won the Carabao Cup on Sunday and are still able to
achieve a quadruple this term, are looking to do the double over their rivals after August’s 2-1 win at Old Trafford.
But Klopp said: ‘It’s a big game against a team in form. We have to be ready, and we will give them a big fight.
‘You have to break an opponent down step by step, it’s not often they make mistakes and you get easy goals in the 420 or something games I’ve had.’
The Liverpool boss is hopeful his side have put their 5-2 Champions League defeat by Real Madrid behind them and added: ‘We looked a lot more stable today.’
MORE : Jurgen Klopp full of praise for struggling Liverpool stars after Wolves win
MORE : Jurgen Klopp hits back at Jamie Carragher over criticism of Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk
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