Liverpool centre back Virgil van Dijk is many things: the PFA Player of the Year, the world’s most expensive defender, the best Dutch player alive. Should he also be this year’s Ballon d’Or winner? Well, many prominent pundits and famous football figures believe so, but Van Dijk himself thinks the plaudit belongs to Lionel Messi.
Over the last decade, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have had a duopoly on the highly esteemed award, until Luka Modric finally broke through last year.
“I think Messi is the best player in the world and I think he deserves it as long as he plays,” VVD told the post UCL Final press conference (h/t Marca), after he helped lead Liverpool to a 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur.
“The Ballon d’Or is not something I am thinking of, but if it happens by any chance I will obviously take it.”
“I don’t think there is any case and I think that Messi is still the best player in the world and it doesn’t matter if he isn’t in the Champions League final.”
Meanwhile Netherlands national team manager Ronald Koeman said that Van Dijk is Ballon d’Or worthy, even if he doesn’t believe that he’s exactly the best player on the planet.
“He deserves to win the Ballon d’Or,” Koeman said yesterday. (h/t Fox Sports Asia)
“It’s usually handed to players who make or create decisive goals, but if there ever is a time to give it to a defender, it is now.”
He’s absolutely right- the time is now.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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