Van Dijk lost 2nd place and his doctors feared for his life as a result of toxic abscesses in the stomach while he was in Groningen.

The most formidable opponent of VIRGIL VAN DIJK was the stomach condition that left doctors fearing for his life.

The Dutch defender, 27, led Liverpool in the Champions League four for the second season against Porto on Wednesday night.

Reuters

And tomorrow, he will face the relegation fighters, Cardiff, while the team of Jurgen Klopp seeks a first elusive title in the Premier League.

All this is far from the darkest days of Van Dijk during his last season in Groningen.

This is what made the career of the Dutchman, who caught the attention of Celtic after recovering toxic abscesses in his abdomen.

Robert Maaskant was the boss of Groningen in 2012 when Van Dijk was struck by an illness.

Maaskant said, "Virgil's mother took him to the hospital. She could not wait, otherwise he might not be there anymore. He was hospitalized and that made him very weak on his return.

Van Dijk lost two stones, was fed with drops and the doctors told him how bad it was.

Playing football was secondary to getting healthy, but Van Dijk came back incredibly faster than expected.

Maaskant added, "It slowed him down for almost half a season.

Virgil believed so much in himself that he did not think he was cautious. After a while, he understood what it took to become one of the best.

Tim Sparv

"But we put it on an individual program, we were pretty easy in pre-season and when he started playing, he immediately showed his value."

It could have been a devastating blow to Van Dijk's promising career start in the Dutch League.

Finnish midfielder Tim Sparv remembers his teammate coming out of the bench as STRIKER in his first matches to continue a match before showing his skills as a defender.

Sparv said, "A match against Feyenoord at home that always comes to my mind.

"He had the ball at his feet and he bounced a bit, then he threw a half-volley to Dusan Tadic on the left wing.

"It was 50 meters and he did not even think about it, he just blew it up.

"Virgil believed so much in himself that he did not think of playing cautiously.

"After a while, he understood what it took to become one of the best, joining a group of us who did some extra work. He had good genes but then started working and maturing. "

TRAVEL TO ANFIELD

This additional work allowed Van Dijk to regain his power – and to catch the eye of Celtic's recruiting chief, John Park.

The Scottish Superscout thought he had unearthed a jewel, but probably not the one who would bring back £ 13 million to his club when Van Dijk joined Southampton in 2015.

And certainly not the one that would cost Liverpool 75 million pounds – a world record for a defender – when they signed it in January 2018.

Park said, "A lot of modern players are calm, it's like they've stopped training leaders.

"Some of these traditional attributes are disappearing, it's a bit like if the players were not able to steer the ball – it's happening happening now."

"But you can see from Virgil that he had that and also that he was a top, top player."

Park also set his sights on Mike van der Hoorn of Utretcht – who eventually went to Swansea – and on Richairo Zivkovic who went from Groningen to Ajax.

But he pleaded for Van Dijk and Deputy Chief Johan Mjallby accepted after a surveillance mission, even though the Scottish giants were the only bidders.

Park added, "Groningen took Luis Suarez, so it's a good factory.

"Virgil did not have a good day, but Johan said we should sign it anyway."

Getty – Contributor