Virgil van Dijk shares whether he plans to return to Liverpool right away after Netherlands red card on Friday night

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk didn’t have the best of nights for the Netherlands on Friday.

The Reds and Oranje skipper was sent off during his country’s Nations League encounter with Hungary at the Ferenc Puskas Stadium.

Van Dijk received his marching orders in the 79th minute for a second yellow card, though it didn’t stop the Dutch from salvaging a 1-1 draw in Budapest.

Roland Sallai opened the scoring for Hungary in the 20th minute as he connected with a Zsolt Nagy cross to fire in a volley past Bart Verbruggen.

The Netherlands probed for an equaliser but were left with a mountain to climb after Van Dijk received two yellows in the space of 10 minutes.

Despite this, the Oranje equalised in the 82rd minute as Denzel Dumfries, who took the Liverpool man’s armband, headed home from a Cody Gakpo delivery.

Speaking after the game, Van Dijk shared what his plans are in wake of the sending-off, which rules him out of Monday’s trip to Munich to face Germany.

Theoretically, he could return to Liverpool right away, as he can no longer play a part on the pitch for the Netherlands in this international break.

Virgil van Dijk plans to stay with Netherlands instead of returning to Liverpool

However, Van Dijk told NOS that he plans to remain with the Netherlands setup for the game, saying he wants to support his nation.

“I will of course continue to participate,” he said, as transcribed by Voetbal International.

“It is important that I recover well personally, but that I am also there for the group.”

Van Dijk also spoke about the cards he received, saying: “As captain I am allowed to talk to the referee.

“I don’t take it easy when we are behind, but I did it in a respectful way.

“I said it was about a player who had broken through, because he had absolutely no intention of stealing the ball. In the end the referee just gave him a yellow card.

“Yes, I should have done that more intelligently. With the second one, I gave the referee a reason to give a yellow card.”

READ MORE: Liverpool’s Conor Bradley reacts after being made Northern Ireland captain v Belarus

Watch this space

Although Van Dijk says he’d like to stay with the Netherlands, it remains to be seen whether he’ll actually stay.

Perhaps Liverpool boss Arne Slot may get in contact with the Dutch national team and request that his captain returns to Merseyside. After all, it’s the logical thing to do.

It could well be a case of ‘watch this space’, because there’s no point in Van Dijk making the trip to Germany when he’d just be sitting in the dugout or in the stands.

When are Liverpool next in action?

Liverpool are next in action on Sunday 20 October when they host Chelsea in the Premier League.