Liverpool centre-half Virgil van Dijk named the toughest opponents he’s faced during his career to date – but Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t even get a mention.
Virgil van Dijk named the toughest opponents he’s faced during his career, but Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t one of them.
The Liverpool captain has come up against a catalogue of superstar strikers during his stint playing for Celtic in the Champions League and his time spent in the Premier League at Southampton and at Anfield.
However, as the Dutchman reeled off two Manchester City stars of past and present in Sergio Aguero and Erling Haaland, there was also a mention for Olivier Giroud as well, but nothing for the greatest goalscorer football has ever seen in Ronaldo.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Van Dijk named the toughest opponents he’s faced in his career, he said: “I would say Erling Haaland is a very difficult opponent, [he is] very strong, a modern day striker. It’s the directness. If you give them an inch then they will punish you.
“It’s the same with Aguero. He didn’t score many goals against us, but since I played against him when I was at Southampton he was always a handful, he could finish with his left or right, you always had to be at your best.
“I remember one goal he scored against us in 2018-19, he came in front of Dejan Lovren from a cross and finished it so quickly.”
Van Dijk also sang the praises of former Chelsea and Arsenal striker Giroud, while he wasn’t one of the most prolific during his time in the Premier League – with him only reaching double figures in the league for goals in five out of nine seasons – Van Dijk explained what made the Frenchman such a tough adversary.
He said: “[He was] a link-up player, together at the time with [Eden] Hazard, it was always Hazard giving him the flick an. he would hold up the ball. He also scored good goals against me. I always felt like he wasn’t going to score, but he managed to score.”
