October 17 was one of the darkest days in Virgil van Dijk's football career.The Dutchman was on the other end of a heavy challenge from Jordan Pickford after just nine minutes played in the Merseyside Derby.Van Dijk was forced off through injury and it was later revealed that he had torn his ACL.There was an outpouring of emotion from Liverpool fans after news circulated that he is likely to miss the end of the season.But some football fans decided they were going to make a joke of the whole situation, with #RIPVirgil trending on twitter on Monday.
But Everton have also had some injury news from the game.Carlo Ancelotti revealed on Thursday afternoon that James Rodriguez had suffered an injury and is now going to miss their game against Southampton on the weekend.Coincidentally, he was injured after a clash with Van Dijk after just 30 seconds played.Ancelotti said earlier, per the Times: “Unfortunately, James had a problem during the game.“He had a mistimed tackle with Virgil van Dijk at the beginning of the game and I think he will not be available for the game against Southampton."View the challenge below:The news about Rodriguez's set back has led to football fans on Twitter mocking Liverpool supporters for their reaction to Van Dijk's injury.Just days after #RIPVirgil trended, #PrayForJames is now trending on Twitter. You can see some of the best tweets below:
The internet remains undefeated.
Ancelotti also said that the club were sorry about Van Dijk's injury and revealed Pickford is 'really disappointed'.
"To be clear, we are really sorry for the injury of Virgil van Dijk," he said, per the Daily Mail.
"There was this contact with Jordan Pickford: it was mistimed contact. But the fact the Premier League is so fast, it is not so difficult to arrive a little bit later.
"Jordan arrived a little bit later but his intention was to try to reach the ball. It was not to hurt Virgil van Dijk.
"To say it was premeditated, and this and that, in my opinion, is too much. Virgil van Dijk knows this. Jordan is really sad, really disappointed [that Van Dijk is injured].
"It was a strong contact, maybe mistimed, but sometimes in football it can happen."