Masks off, tough cross between Van Dijk and Nunez, ended badly

The World Cup in Qatar is just hours away from officially kicking off, and as is customary in many quarters, the pools and predictions have begun to emerge, with Liverpool players invited by the official EA SPORTS FIFA account to reveal what they believe will be the winning team in the 2022 edition.

Frenchman Ibrahima Konate, Briton Calvin Ramsay and Uruguayan Darwin Núñez were the elements chosen for the dynamics of the specialist sports video game company, raising doubts early on about the teams that will advance from the group stage by setting very complicated duels such as Brazil vs Uruguay and Argentina vs Netherlands, giving Virgil van Dijk's Dutch team and Núñez's Uruguayans as the favourites for the semi-finals.

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In the hypothetical case of the Netherlands and Uruguay meeting in the semi-finals of the World Cup, this would obviously be a very interesting duel for all Liverpool fans, as on one side they would have the great defensive work of Virgil van Dijk trying to stop the Charrúa onslaught, while on the other side Darwin Núñez will be looking for the ideal formula to break through the Dutch wall that is well commanded by his teammate.

Taking into account the potential of each team, the Liverpool players gave the Dutch as favourites over the Uruguayans in the semi-finals, with Núñez ending up in the run-up to the final in that prediction, with Van Dijk advancing to the final where he would supposedly come up against France, a team which Ibrahima Konate evidently supported disproportionately, putting them as world champions for the second consecutive edition, with his other team-mates agreeing with the French defender's decision.

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The curious thing about the predictions of Klopp's men was in the game between Senegal and England, with the three players in the prediction sidelining both Jodan Henderson and Alexander Arnold to give the Africans a place, Konate not forgetting to mention Sadio Mané as they made the decision to put them in the quarter-finals, even though the Bayern Munich striker will miss the competition due to injury.