Virgil Van Dijk shows class while giving interview after Lionel Messi’s Ballon D’or win

Tanish Chachra | 03/12/2019
Virgil Van Dijk shows class while giving interview after Lionel Messi's Ballon D'or win

Virgil Van Dijk shows his elegance while giving an interview after Lionel Messi wins the Ballon D’or award for the sixth time in his career.

Last night belonged to Lionel Messi as the Argentine International claimed his sixth Ballon D’or award last night ahead of Virgil Van Dijk, Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane.

Messi in the contest for the award, narrowly defeated Van Dijk to top spot. The Dutch defender was not seen upset and instead acknowledged the legacy of Messi and Ronaldo.

“Unfortunately there are a couple of players like him [Messi] that are unnatural…six times the Ballon D’Or you need to respect greatness as well…I was close, but it was just someone who was a little bit better.”

Van Dijk became the highest-ranked defender in Ballon D’Or since Fabio Cannavaro won the award back in 2006. However, Van Dijk didn’t believe he’d be nominated until he ultimately was a couple of weeks ago:

“To be absolutely honest, I never thought id be up for Ballon D’Or until I was actually nominated and it says a lot of how my career has been, its never been easy.”

“My career is just different than the winner here, I came late but I never gave up my dreams and I had to work hard every step of the way.”

“Where I am right now is something I’m very proud of, and to be here has made me very proud and makes me want to work harder so I can be here next year.”

It is for the first time since 2008 that a Liverpool player has ended into the top-3 of the Ballon D’or award. Last time, it was Fernando Torres in 2008, and further Van Dijk is also the first Dutchman to make the podium since Dennis Bergkamp in 1993.

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Barcelona Lionel Messi Liverpool virgil van dijk

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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