Virgil Van Dijk pays Twitter tribute to Cristiano Ronaldo after Ballon d’Or controversy. Van Dijk had insinuated that the Portuguese was never a rival.
In an era dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, Virgil Van Dijk made headlines last season with his consistent performances for Liverpool. To make his accomplishment even more amazing is the fact that he did it as a defender.
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To be hailed as one of if not the major reason behind your team’s success is an amazing feat in itself. Especially when you arguably have the best attacking trio in the world. However, the calls for a Ballon d’Or became even more deafening when Van Dijk pipped both Messi and Ronaldo to become the UEFA Men’s player of the year.
Van Dijk in hot water
The former Celtic defender raised eyebrows at the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony when he jokingly remarked that Ronaldo was never in the running for the award. Naturally this did not go down well with a large section of the supporters and many criticised the centerback.
Piers Morgan and Cristiano Ronaldo’s sister launched stinging attacks on Van Dijk on Social Media platforms. They claimed that Van Dijk was at a far lower level than the Portuguese he had just made fun of. Van Dijk did clarify that it was a banter that had been blown out of proportion. It now appears thatr he has taken the apology a step further by placating Ronaldo through a tribute on Twitter.
Hi Piers, If you don’t jump on the social media bandwagon and would listen to the whole interview then you would know I made a joke, and only got respect for those 2 😀
— Virgil van Dijk (@VirgilvDijk) December 2, 2019
Virgil Van Dijk pays Twitter tribute to Cristiano Ronaldo after Ballon d’Or controversy
While Virgil Van Dijk ended up losing out to Lionel Messi, he still managed to land above Cristiano Ronaldo at second place. However, he showed humility in his post to acknowledge the honour in being in the same company as both Ronaldo and Messi.
His apology has been well received by the fans. Although, either of the two players are yet to respond to the post. The matter seems to be buried and put to rest now. However, should Juventus and Liverpool play each other in the Champions League knock outs, a Ronaldo Van Dijk clash would be an exciting prospect to look out for.
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