Liverpool central defender Virgil van Dijk has conceded that he had to “respect greatness” after losing out on the 2019 Ballon d’Or award to Barcelona talisman Lionel Messi.
Barcelona and Argentina forward Messi won the prestigious honor for a record sixth time in his career having scored 41 times in 44 club appearances for La Blaugrana, with whom he won his 10th LaLiga title last term.
Success in the Champions League eluded the 32-year-old Messi, though, as Van Dijk helped Liverpool knock out Barcelona in the semi-finals en route to a sixth triumph in the most premier club competition in the European continent.
Van Dijk’s performances for the Reds in that competition and with Nations League finalists the Netherlands and that ensured that he won the UEFA Player Of The Year and he finished second in the voting for the Ballon d’Or, but the 28-year-old center back had no qualms about being pipped to the prize by Messi.
On his year of achievements and accolades, Van Dijk was asked about how he felt and the Liverpool star replied by praising Messi, “It was amazing, unfortunately, there are a couple of players like him that are a bit unnatural, I think. They’re fantastic. Six-time Ballon d’Or [winner], you need to respect greatness as well. I was close but there was just someone a little bit better.”
The Dutchman further explained how proud he was with his achievements, “I’m very proud of what I achieved last year with Liverpool, Holland and hopefully we can do that again this year. It’s going to be tough as long as these guys are around still.”
Van Dijk has been instrumental in guiding Liverpool to the summit of the Premier League at the moment and scored twice against Brighton at the weekend to put the Reds eight points clear of 2nd placed Leicester City.
