Van Dijk dismisses Ballon D’Or hype backs Messi for award

Liverpool’s Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk has dismissed claims that he could be in line to win football’s ultimate individual prize the Ballon D’Or.

For a decade from 2008 until 2018 the prize had either gone to Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo but the exploits of Luka Modric in leading Croatia to the World Cup final broke the monopoly held the illustrious duo last year.

Despite Liverpool knocking Messi’s Barcelona out of the Champions League the defender still feels that the Argentine deserves the honour.

Van Dijk’s Liverpool teammated Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane can further press their Ballon D’Or at the 2019 AFCON while the Dutchman stands a chance of winning the Uefa Nations League with the Netherlands.

The modest giant doesn’t feel that he has done enough this season to deserve the award, despite almost single-handedly solving Liverpool’s defensive uncertainty.

“I think Messi is the best player in the world and I think he deserves it as long as he plays,” he said at a post-final press conference, according to Marca.

“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.”

Messi ended the 2018/19 season as the leading scorer across Europe’s top league’s scoring 36 goals in 72 appearances. Former Italy skipper Fabio Cannavaro was the last defender to be awarded the Ballon D’Or. Cannavaro led Italy to the World Cup in 2006 and was rewarded with the golden ball.

Van Dijk joined Liverpool from Southampton in January of 2018 for a reported fee of £75 million, at the time a record for a defender. He was named man of the match for the Champions League final which Liverpool won 2-0 over Tottenham Hotspur.