Many see Virgil van Dijk as the uncompromising defender that has been central to Liverpool's return to the summit of European football, yet back in 2012, the Dutchman faced an almighty battle with his own health, with things getting so bad that he even wrote a will.
At just 21 years old, Van Dijk suffered from appendicitis, peritonitis and a kidney infection, a combination of ailments which almost always results in the death of the patient.
"All I could see were tubes hanging over me, my body was broken and I couldn't do anything," Van Dijk explained in an interview with FourFourTwo.
"At that time, the worst scenarios were going around my head.
"If I had died, a part of my money would go to my mother, of course nobody wanted to talk about it, but we had to do it, everything could have been finished."
Whilst the Dutch international would go on to make a full recovery, it was only the quick thinking of his mother which probably saved his life, after a number of signs were missed at a local medical facility.
"At first, we thought he had the flu, he was at home for a few days with a great deal of abdomen pain," former coach Dick Lukkien detailed.
"He went to the local hospital but they couldn't find anything wrong, so they sent him home.
"It was only his mother who saw that this was not normal and took him back to the hospital, it was crucial to save his life."
UsefPradhan
59
I am glad he survived and beat Barca 4-0. I hope some day he would accidently kick a ball which gets landed upon valverde head and he remembers he is coach of barcelona🙏🙏🙏 Till then Messi bear his stupidity and suarez diving🙏