The Reds are in Austria this evening as they look to continue their perfect start to their European campaign.
But club captain Van Dijk has been left on the bench for the match against the reigning Austrian league champions, with a centre-back pairing of Jeremy Jacquet and Ronald Araujo preferred.
Speaking ahead of kick-off, Iraola moved to explain his decision, simply saying he wanted to give the big Dutchman a chance to rest as Liverpool face an intense period of matches.
Asked whether this match seemed a convenient opportunity to give Van Dijk a night off, Iraola replied: “Yes, I think we are in a part of the schedule where we are playing every three days, so we cannot expect to always play with the starting eleven.
“Virgil always wants to play, we have him available from the bench, but I think it was a good game for him to have some rest.”
All being well, Liverpool will not need to call on Van Dijk tonight. They are heavy favourites to take all three points away from the Raiffeisen Arena.
Iraola has named a youthful side in Linz, with Trey Nyoni (19), Rio Ngumoha (18) and Lewis Koumas (21) all getting the nod in the absences of Cody Gakpo, Alexander Isak and Dominik Szoboszlai.
But the Basque was adamant he fully trusts the youngsters to get the job done.
“For me, Trey, Rio, Koumas are players from the academy, yes, but they are first-team players,” he continued.
“They are first-team players because we trust them, and we are in a situation where we have some injuries, and we come from playing three days ago, and we play three days later.
“They can play well, and I hope they will.