Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has named his best five-a-side team in world football right now – and there’s no space for Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final with Real Madrid, van Dijk sat down with Rio Ferdinand and ran through who he’d love to have a kickabout with.
The Netherlands international chose himself, obviously, and Reds teammate Alisson between the sticks. After that though, things start to get interesting.
Van Dijk easily could’ve named a few others from Jurgen Klopp’s side, but decided to spice it up.
In midfield he opted for Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne, who was named Premier League Player of the Season last week.
Van Dijk has come up against De Bruyne several times throughout his career as City and Liverpool battle to be the dominant force in English football.
In attack, the 30-year-old decided to pick Paris Saint-Germain sensation Kylian Mbappe and Real Madrid veteran Karim Benzema.
The duo play for the France national team and came very close to playing at the Santiago Bernabeu together too.
Mbappe sensationally signed a new contract with PSG on Saturday after being linked with a move to Real for what feels like an eternity.
That means there’s no place for Mbappe’s PSG cohort Messi or Manchester United talisman Ronaldo.
Both players have dominated the GOAT debate for the last decade but their time at the top seems to be drawing to a close.
Messi struggled in his debut year in France, only managing to score six times in Ligue 1.
Ronaldo personally fared better after returning to Old Trafford last summer, scoring 18 league goals, but United came sixth and missed out on qualifying for the Champions League.
While there wasn’t space for either man in van Dijk’s team, he still had to concede Messi is one of the toughest he’s ever played against.
The former Southampton man admitted: “I’ve played against Sergio Aguero who was unbelievable. I’ve played against [Lionel] Messi… arguably the best player in the history of football, in my opinion. [Kylian] Mbappe is a different type of quick.
“It’s a different type of striker we face nowadays. Such as [Erling] Haaland, and Darwin [Nunez] who is a bit similar. Quick, direct, strong, it’s quite difficult to face those guys.”
Source: Daniel Marland
D-Ample Newspaper 