We always knew that Virgil van Dijk was destined for great things, but most Celtic fans will openly admit they didn’t see him going to on to be this good.
He’s attended the Ballon d’Or ceremony tonight with a serious chance of winning the award. It does seem like Lionel Messi will take it, but it’s incredible that the Dutchman is even in the conversation.
It’s traditionally been dominated by attacking players and Fabio Cannavaro was the last defender to win it. This video had emerged of him talking about one of the other candidates:
Interviewer (in Dutch): “Cristiano won’t be here, so that’s already one rival less.”
Van Dijk: “Was he a rival then?” pic.twitter.com/d1UW1glxcH
— Premier League Panel (@PremLeaguePanel) December 2, 2019
The best thing about the comment is it’s total true, but it’s still incredible to see a former Celtic defender dismissing the great Cristiano Ronaldo as a potential challenger to him for the prestigious award.
Perhaps he didn’t mean to sound quite as dismissive as he did, but he’s still got a point.
