Lionel Messi: Virgil Van Dijk comments on Messi on Barcelona vs Liverpool champions league clash. The Dutch international said that he is glad to not face Messi every year.
The football fraternity was expecting a nail-biting contest in the “best-defender vs best forward” battle. However, Lionel Messi massively out shined Van Dijk after the former scored a sensational brace against Liverpool last night.
Following the match, Van Dijk talked about Messi’s brilliance and how the Argentine forward’s exceptional display led to Liverpool’s defeat last night.
“He’s a fantastic player, it’s very obvious, I think the hard part is that when we attack, he’s waiting somewhere, in the corner or anywhere, so you need to be well organized in defense,” he said.
“When you face Messi off at its best cannot do anything. I’m glad I’m not in Spain so I do not have to face him every season, he scored two goals, I’m very disappointed.”
The Dutch international, who won the Players’ player of the year after playing prominent role for Liverpool in defense, failed to prevent Barcelona to capitalize their chances.
Moreover, Van Dijk also got criticism as the Dutch player failed to track Luiz Suarez, who netted against his former team to open the scoring.
Virgil van Dijk really didn’t want to be one-on-one with Lionel Messi 👀 pic.twitter.com/Qu8VkVfAgI
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 1, 2019
On the other hand, Messi had one of the best games of his career as he scored 600th goal for Barcelona last night. He also scored a 35-yard free-kick that left the football world in disbelief.
Nou Camp: A horror for Van Dijk
This was Van Dijk’s second visit to Nou Camp. He earlier visited to Barcelona’s home ground in 2013, when he was in Celtic and got his side thrashed by 6-1 in a champions league game against Barcelona. Therefore, Van Dijk in his two visits to Barcelona has conceded nine goals, a stat which the best defender in England wouldn’t like to boast.
2016: 6-1 ❌
2019: 3-0 ❌— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 2, 2019
What’s next in Lionel Messi vs Virgil Van Dijk?
It would be wrong to consider that Liverpool got no chance in the second leg. Reds have been exceptional at home and can overturn the result. Van Dijk needs to be at his best to prevent Messi to exploit Anfield. However, both teams will deal with equal share of pressure for the next match and so will these two players.
