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Van Dijk facial injury 'no big problem' says Klopp after defender forced off in Liverpool friendly draw with Salzburg
The centre-back went off injured against the Austrian champions but the Reds manager is not concerned about his influential defender
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp insists the injury sustained by Virgil van Dijk in Tuesday's friendly with Red Bull Salzburg is nothing to be concerned about.
The Netherlands international was forced off in the 55th minute of the Reds' 2-2 draw in Austria after suffering a cut to his head.
Klopp, though, confirmed after the game that the 29-year-old is not expected to suffer any lasting effects.
"Virg only looks like he has a piercing now and has a plaster on it," he told Liverpool's official website. "It should not be, and is, no problem. In the moment it is, of course, not cool but there will not be a problem."
Liverpool face Arsenal in the Community Shield on Saturday before kicking off their Premier League title defence against Leeds United on September 12.
Rhian Brewster scored a double off the bench as Liverpool came from two goals down to salvage a draw against Salzburg in their final pre-season friendly.
Klopp again named a strong line-up and granted Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Joe Gomez, Neco Williams and Alisson an hour of game time each.
The Premier League champions fell behind inside three minutes when Patson Daka caught Fabinho in possession and raced through to slot a cool finish past Alisson.
Daka doubled his and Salzburg's tally 10 minutes later when he darted away from Van Dijk and steered Mergim Berisha's square pass home.
A goal-line block from Albert Vallci kept Mane at bay before half-time, while Van Dijk was forced off after suffering a cut to his head following the restart. He was replaced after 55 minutes by Nat Phillips.
Brewster scored in the 3-0 win over Stuttgart on Saturday and went on as one of seven changes after the hour mark. He fired into the roof of the net at the end of an intricate move to halve the deficit in the 72nd minute.
The 20-year-old striker, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Championship side Swansea City, looped an equaliser into an empty net from 20 yards after Alexander Walke raced off his line to deal with Oumar Solet's poor header and kicked a clearance straight at Curtis Jones.
