Virgil van Dijk has played against the best of the best in his career.
From Luis Suarez to Erling Haaland, Virgil van Dijk has faced up against some of the toughest attacking talents of this generation.
Van Dijk is often named as players’ toughest opponent. Martin Odegaard said Van Dijk was his toughest ever opponent, while Sergio Aguero also said he struggled against Van Dijk.
Speaking to GQ, Van Dijk has now been asked to name who the toughest player he’s ever come against is.
Van Dijk has previously named Olivier Giroud as one of his toughest opponents, but, now, the Dutchman has gone for two more well-known names.
Virgil van Dijk names his two toughest opponents
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Van Dijk named Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as his two toughest opponents.
Van Dijk has had historical battles with Messi at Barcelona and with Argentina, while Ronaldo caused Van Dijk problems in the Champions League final back in 2018 with Real Madrid, before making his Premier League return after a £13m move to Manchester United in 2021.
“Who is the hardest player you have come up against?” Van Dijk was asked.
“Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Both very, very, very good players. Very difficult to defend. It’s always good to play against the best players in my opinion, you can always challenge yourself and you always have to be at your best, it’s a beautiful thing,” Van Dijk said.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s record vs Virgil van Dijk
Van Dijk named Ronaldo as one of his toughest ever opponents, but the stats tell a very different story here.
Indeed, while Ronaldo is an all-time great of the game, he’s never really had a standout performance against Van Dijk.
In fact, Ronaldo has never scored a goal when he’s played against the Liverpool captain, drawing a blank in each of the five games he’s played against the Dutchman.
| Cristiano Ronaldo record vs Virgil van Dijk | |
| Games | 5 |
| Goals | 0 |
| Wins | 3 |
| Draws | 0 |
| Losses | 2 |
If we’re basing this on just numbers, the player who has caused Van Dijk the most problems over the years, somewhat surprisingly, is Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard.
Trossard has scored six goals in nine games against Van Dijk, making him not only the player who has scored the most goals vs Van Dijk, but also one of the best goals per game records.
| Leandro Trossard record vs Virgil van Dijk | |
| Games | 11 |
| Goals | 6 |
Harry Kane, Son-Heung Min and Kevin De Bruyne have also scored six goals vs Van Dijk, but they’ve also played more games against the Dutchman than Trossard has.
Trossard has been criticised recently for his performances for Arsenal, but, for one reason or another, he always seems to save his best performances for Van Dijk and Liverpool.
