Van Dijk’s surprise on his list of the four toughest rivals he has had to face!

If there’s any centre-back that defenses have feared over the past few years, it’s clearly this Virgil van Dijkwho has now revealed which are the four toughest footballers he has faced in his career.

The Dutch central, capital in Liverpool of Jurgen Klopphe went more than a season without dribbling and, despite serious injuries caused by Pickford His performance has dropped a bit, he has long since returned to being the best in the world.

Today, on The Rest Is Football podcast, Van Dijk made an assessment of the footballers who made him suffer and was surprised by the departure of none other than Cristiano Ronaldo. The Dutchman faced him in the 2018 Champions League final, which was won by Real Madrid, but however, that experience did not serve to put him in the most difficult position.

These are the four players who said Van Dijk:

Leo Messi

Argentina/FC Barcelona

He only said his name about Messi, nothing else. Not much to add either. Against Van Dijk he managed to score a hat trick in the Champions League semi-final.

2

Erling Haaland

Norway/City of Manchester

“I would say that he is a very hard opponent. He is very strong, a modern striker. He is sincere. If you give him an inch, he will punish you”

3

Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero

Argentina/Manchester City

“The same thing is happening with Agüero. He didn’t score many goals for us, but because I played with him when he was at Southampton he was always a problem, he can shoot with his left or right, you always have to be at your best. “I remember one goal he scored against us in 2018-19, he got in front of Dejan Lovren with a cross and it was finished very quickly.”

4

Olivier Giroud

France/Arsenal and Chelsea

“He was a link player, with Hazard at that time, it was always Hazard who gave him a chance. He handled the ball. He also scored good goals for me. I always felt he couldn’t score, but he did.”