Virgil Van Dijk claims he doesn’t compare himself with Lionel Messi

Virgil Van Dijk claims he doesn’t compare himself with Lionel Messi after being defeated to him at the Best FIFA awards in Milan.

Lionel Messi and Virgil Van Dijk were sharing the same podium in the Best FIFA player of the year award. It was a stiff competition between the two along with Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, in the end, Messi was declared as the winner of the prestigous award. With this there was a reaction from several fans against the decision, who rooted for Van Dijk to win this award.

But coming to Van Dijk, the Dutch International has always praised the might of Messi, and in an interaction with the media after the ceremony he said that he was not disappointed because he cannot compare to the Argentinian.

Also read: Megan Rapinoe crtiticized for her statement on why Virgil Van Dijk should have won FIFA Best player award

“The people who vote made a decision and you have to accept it,” Van Dijk told reporters, per Goal. That’s just the case and as players you can’t compare me and Messi because it’s totally different.

“I’m very proud to be here. Disappointed? You can’t be disappointed. I’m just very happy to be here, to be in the team of the year, after the hard work and the good work we put in last year.”

“Today, I, unfortunately, didn’t win but I’m not disappointed.” he concluded.

A really set of wise words from the 28-year-old star, who had a spectacular season with Liverpool to win the Champions League this season.

It is not for the first time Van Dijk has praised Messi for his capability. Once before, the Dutch defender talked about Messi being the favourite to win the award.

“I think Messi is the best player in the world and I think he deserves it as long as he plays,” he said, per 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.”

Nevertheless, the road to being the Best player in the world is still not over, as Ballon D’or award is still yet to be given.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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