Ballon d’or disappointment of Anfield hero UPERVAN
EXCLUSIVE Virgil: No shame to lose to a legend of the game in Messi Managers will make Dijk’s day
VIRGIL VAN DIJK has admitted for the first time that he thought he would be bringing the Ballon d’or back to Liverpool.
The 28-year-old – crowned a Club World Cup winner last night – has revealed the disappointment he felt to be beaten to the title of the greatest player on the planet by Barcelona’s brilliant Argentina star Lionel Messi.
The Dutch defender missed out by just seven votes when the poll was announced last month.
And although Van Dijk still travelled to the awards ceremony in Paris knowing he was destined for second place, he returned to Anfield with Messi’s total respect. “I was slightly disappointed,” said the man who has become a £75million bargain since arriving at Anfield from Southampton two years ago.
“I decided I would still go and in the end it was a super night. I still consider it a great achievement to be up there with the biggest football icons in the world.
“I spoke to Messi during the evening. It was not the longest conversation because he doesn’t speak a lot of English.
“But it was still enough to make me realise that the respect between us now also runs the other way.”
Van Dijk certainly feels the love at Liverpool. He insists there are none of the usual dressing-room cliques at a club that rediscovered the glory days under Jurgen Klopp.
And the support the players get from legends like Kenny Dalglish has made him realise that everyone is pulling in the same direction.
Humble
Not that some of Van Dijk’s teammates aren’t afraid to make their world-class centre-back the butt of their jokes to keep his feet on the floor.
Van Dijk said: “At almost every club, you find that there are lots of different little groups in a squad. But this Liverpool bunch is phenomenally close together – one big family, and that is why this club suits me so much.
“James Milner says the same thing and he has played at clubs like Manchester City, Newcastle United and Aston Villa. That’s why this club is great for me. The people are all humble. The legends of the great days – like Kenny
Dalglish and Ian Rush – travel with us during
European weeks.
“Dalglish even sends me texts on my phone and we will have a chat at times.
“When I go to see my family after a match, I go by the boardroom and it’s always full of former top players.
“But we can also have a laugh and a joke about each other.
“Do you know who is the funniest in the team? Sadio Mane. He comes out with crazy things and always cracks us up.
“Sadio is the funny man in the team, but Andy Robertson can’t keep his mouth still and James Milner is a special one in the house as well.”
Van Dijk’s best friend is fellow Dutchman Gini Wijnaldum.
The pair are inseparable for club and country.
And Van Dijk has revealed how the midfielder delivered at emotional speech before the Champions League Final against Tottenham in Madrid in June to rally Liverpool to an epic 2-0 victory.
Van Dijk said: “Gini is a brilliant man when it comes to giving a speech.
“When we were about to go on to the pitch for the biggest game of the year in Madrid, suddenly it was
Gini who said,
‘Hang on boys, let’s all get together here’.
“We formed a tight circle right there in the dressing room and Gini started to talk.
“He said all the right things. He really went for it and I could feel I was getting a lump in my throat.
“It was so special what he said – and it was so perfect.
“Gini is such a warm person. In the Dutch national team camp, they make jokes about our strong bond.”
JURGEN KLOPP and Ronald Koeman are perfect managers to play for, according to Virgil van Dijk.
The Dutch defender believes he couldn’t be in a better place, with Klopp his boss at Liverpool and Koeman taking charge of Holland.
Van Dijk reckons both men know how to bring the best out of the world’s best defender.
He said: “I have a special bond with Jurgen Klopp – but I am lucky that I now have the perfect managers at the best moment in my career.
“I have the same relationship with Ronald
Koeman for the national team that I now have with
Klopp at
Liveprool.
“They both know how to get the best out of me.
“If either
Klopp or
Koeman point things out to me, then I know that they are right and that I have to improve in a certain area.
“I can take it from them. I am not a player who will argue with his manager. Never.
“I know Dutch guys have a reputation of doing that when they go to play abroad, but that will never happen with me.
“That does not mean I will just accept anything. If I don’t agree with something then I will speak.
“But with these managers there has never been a need for that.”