Virgil van Dijk has welcomed the return of Alexander Isak after the Liverpool striker played his first game since December on Wednesday night.
Isak was a late substitute as the Reds lost 2-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie with Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes.
It was the £125m striker’s first appearance since December 20 when he broke his leg in scoring the opening goal in a 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur.
And Van Dijk says the most expensive footballer in British history can still play an important role before the end of the season.
"Yes, hopefully he can be very important," the Liverpool captain said. "I’m very pleased to see him back. I think he was already showing a lot of good quality again in training.
"So it's down to him to obviously stay fit and be important for us and push each other. It's another quality option. It's great to see him back.
“He put a lot of hard work in and it's never easy to come back from such an injury, and hopefully, he can be important for us."
Isak's comeback was one of few positives from the chastening loss to PSG, who are now hot favourites to finish the job at Anfield on Tuesday (April 14).
Before then the Reds face a crucial Premier League clash at home to Fulham on Saturday (5.30pm kick-off).
And Van Dijk added: “It is a tough one, losing again. I don’t think you can say there's a different feeling in losing, but I saw at least a fight.
“But losing its tough to take again. But there's still 90 minutes we played, so that's the only positive.
“They maybe should have scored more, but that's football, 2-0. We have another game to be played at home and before that, we have another very big game waiting for us.”
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