Barcelona News: Lionel Messi explains why it is so hard to get past Virgil Van Dijk in a recent interview. He lists 4 points that make him special.
Barcelona were marching towards a treble. The La Liga was already in the bag and the Copa Del Ray was all but a certainty. The Champions League encounter against Liverpool in fact seemed like a cruise with Barcelona coming out on top 3-0.
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All season long, much was made of Liverpool and yet the Reds folded so easily against the Bluagrana. The fans and England had become believers. The ones in Spain however, were yet to see what the fuss was all about Jurgen Klopp’s men.
A few weeks later, Barcelona were thrashed 4-0 by Liverpool in the Semi-final at Anfield. Liverpool had booked their ticket to a second consecutive final while Barcelona’s campaign derailed to end on a disappointing note.
There were several heroes in Liverpool’s side with Virgil Van Dijk being one of them. No player dribbled the ball past the Dutch skipper all through last season; Not even the mighty Lionel Messi managed to put the ball past the Red’s defender.
Lionel Messi explains why it is so hard to get past Virgil Van Dijk
In an interview with Marca, Lionel Messi explained why taking on Virgil Van Dijk was such a hard task.
“He is a defender who knows how to judge his timing and wait for the right moment to challenge or jockey.
“He is very fast and big, but he has a lot of agility for his height.
“He is fast because of its great stride, and he is impressive both in defence and attack because he scores lots of goals.”
Virgil Van Dijk pipped Lionel Messi to win the UEFA Player of the season. However, Lionel Messi surprised everyone by winning FIFA The Best award to level the two. The Ballon D’Or in December will likely provide the tie breaker on which of the two had the better season last campaign.
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