Liverpool’s defender Virgil Van Dijk revealed the toughest opponent he has ever faced in his 13-year-long professional career.
Van Dijk, 32, is regarded as one of the finest centre-backs of all time. However, despite facing the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, it’s a former Chelsea and Arsenal star who troubled him the most.
Van Dijk named the 2018 World Cup winner, Olivier Giroud, as the most difficult striker he ever came up against as the Frenchman was too difficult to mark and would always manage to find his way to score.
“Olivier Giroud. Every time, you think you've got a hold of him, that you've got him well marked, but he always manages to score in one way or another: with his head, his foot, his knee. He has often scored against me,” Van Dijk told France Football.
Giroud played for Arsenal and Chelsea in the Premier League but is now playing far away from Vaj Dijk, in Serie A with AC Milan and the Dutchman would surely be pleased that he no longer has to face him.
“I always felt like I got him, but somehow, he always managed to score. Whether it was for Arsenal, Chelsea or France, he always scored.
“I said to him when we won the league, we won 5-3 [against Chelsea] we were 3-0 up or something and he scored a scrappy goal, I think it was against the crossbar and fell down, scrappy goal, I said to him: 'You scored again?!”
Sergio Aguero, Erling Haaland and Gabriel Jesus were the other players named by the Dutchman he often had difficulty against.
“So I would say he (Giroud) is the guy that scores against me, and just that annoying person. There's so many fantastic strikers I've played against, [Lionel] Messi, Aguero, Haaland is a difficult one because he has everything, but I'm going for Giroud as he's my bogeyman - annoying!”
