Virgil van Dijk has ended careers aplenty on a football pitch and he gave Piers Morgan the same treatment on Twitter.
In 2019, when the Netherlands defender finished second to Lionel Messi in the Ballon d'Or rankings, Van Dijk issued a perfect put-down to Arsenal fan Morgan after he tried to point-score on social media.
At the ceremony in Paris, Van Dijk gave an interview where the journalist had said to him,"Cristiano Ronaldo won't be here tonight, so that's already one less rival to care about."
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Van Dijk gave a tongue-in-cheek response when he replied, "Was Cristiano Ronaldo really a rival?".
That prompted Morgan, something of a Ronaldo super-fan at this point, to tell Van Dijk he wasn't in the same league as the five-time Ballon d'Or winner even though they play completely different positions.
Van Dijk had actually praised Ronaldo in the interview and politely pointed that out to Morgan in a classy reply.
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"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."
No insults needed, just a perfect, courteous response from Van Dijk. He exudes calmness on and off the pitch.
At the time, Van Dijk's little Ronaldo comment irked his sister Katia Aveiro and led to her producing a lengthy Instagram post.
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Van Dijk has always shown respect towards Ronaldo although last month he chested the Portuguese superstar and put him in his place when he kicked out at Curtis Jones in the 5-0 trouncing at Old Trafford.
Ronaldo was a little taken aback and didn't quite fancy the confrontation.
Featured Image Credit: Image: France Football / PATopics: Virgil Van Dijk, Liverpool, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi
