Liverpool's worst fears were confirmed on Sunday as scans revealed that defender Virgil van Dijk had suffered anterior cruciate ligament damage in the Merseyside derby.

The Netherlands captain, who has played an important role in Liverpool's title-winning seasons since his arrival from Southampton in January 2018, was injured by a horrible foul from Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford just five minutes into the bad-tempered encounter at Goodison Park.

Van Dijk had to be substituted and was later sent to hospital for a scan, which revealed he would require surgery. No time frame has been put on his absence by the club but an injury of this nature could force him on the sidelines for several months and even miss the remainder of the campaign.

In an Instagram post on Sunday night, the defender said: "I'm now fully focused on my recovery and will do everything I can to be back as quickly as possible. In football, as in life, I believe everything happens for a reason and it's important to try and keep level headed whether going through the highs and lows."

According to Sky Sports, Pickford, who escaped a red card from the referee, attempted to make contact with Van Dijk but has yet to speak to him directly.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is yet to speak publicly about the huge blow of losing one of his most reliable players but he questioned why no action was taken against Pickford during his post-game press conference on Saturday.

"For me it was a clear penalty that I saw. Then obviously we saw the flag went up, so offside. I still thought it was worth a look on the foul but that didn't happen," said Klopp. "We have no power there, we just sit here and you discuss it with me. You have to ask other people about that, not me. What can I say?"

Statistics from the BBC show that Van Dijk has missed just one Premier League game since joining Liverpool. He played all 38 Premier League games in 2018/19 as Liverpool conceded just 22 goals. In his 95 Premier League starts for Liverpool, they have conceded just 78 goals and kept 44 clean sheets.

In 2019, he was awarded the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA)'s Player of the Year and also became the first defender to pick up UEFA's Player of the Year award.

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is one of the most severe injuries suffered by players and it requires a recovery period of six to nine months. Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Manchester United career was effectively over after he picked up the ACL injury during their Europa League clash with Anderlecht in 2017.

Zlatan's former United teammate Marcos Rojo and Borussia Dortmund talisman Marco Reus also endured the same season-ending injury, but both failed to rediscover their fine form after returning to action.