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Van Dijk has faced Ronaldo on several occasions, including the 2018 Champions League final.
Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk, has sparked a debate after omitting Cristiano Ronaldo from his list of toughest opponents.
Since his record-breaking move to the Reds in 2018, Van Dijk has faced some of the most lethal attackers in the game, helping Liverpool secure a plethora of trophies.
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He is widely regarded as one of the best defenders in the world, coming up against Ronaldo on several occasions, including the 2018 Champions League final.
Despite their history, Ronaldo's absence from Van Dijk's list, which includes Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Sergio Aguero, and Olivier Giroud, has raised eyebrows.
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This surprising omission has fans and pundits alike eager to understand Van Dijk's reasoning behind his choices.
"I would say Erling Haaland is a very difficult opponent, [he is] very strong, a modern-day striker,' Van Dijk said on the Rest Is Football podcast.
"It's the directness. If you give them an inch then they will punish you.
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23:54 - 04.04.2024
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"It's the same with Aguero. He didn't score many goals against us, but since I played against him when I was at Southampton he was always a handful, he could finish with his left or right, you always had to be at your best.
"I remember one goal he scored against us in 2018-19, he came in front of Dejan Lovren from a cross and finished it so quickly. [He was] a link-up player, together at the time with [Eden] Hazard, it was always Hazard giving him the flick an, he would hold up the ball.
"He also scored good goals against me. I always felt like he wasn't going to score, but he managed to score."
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