Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk has this weekend provided an insight into some of the toughest opponents he has faced across his stellar career to date.
And a pair of former Barcelona frontmen find their place front and centre on the Dutchman’s list.
The players in question? Lionel Messi, and Sergio Agüero.
Van Dijk, for his part, was drawn on the subject during an appearance on the podcast ‘The Rest Is Football’ (as cited by Mundo Deportivo).
And the stopper felt little need to expand on the first player on his four-man opponent shortlist, responding simply with “Lionel Messi”.
Van Dijk did go on to provide some insight into his other choices, with the aforementioned Agüero, whose time at Barcelona of course proved short-lived, having been the recipient of the following praise:
“Agüero didn’t score many goals against us, but since I played against him when he was at Southampton he was always a problem. He could shoot with his left or his right, you always had to be at your best. I remember a goal he scored against us in 2018-19, he got in front of Dejan Lovren with a cross and finished it very quickly.”
Next up was Manchester City frontman Erling Haaland:
“I would say that he is a very difficult opponent. He is very strong, a modern striker. He is sincere. If you give him an inch, he will punish you.”
And rounding out VVD’s list, somewhat surprisingly, was Olivier Giroud:
“He was a link player, along with Hazard at that time, it was always Hazard who gave him the opportunity. He held the ball. He also scored good goals against me. I always felt like he wasn’t going to score, but he did.”
Conor Laird | GSFN
