Manchester United great Rio Ferdinand accuses Jamie Carragher of peddling 'myth' about Nemanja Vidic

Rio Ferdinand has questioned why Jamie Carragher suggested that Virgil van Dijk was a better defender than Nemanja Vidic, stating that the latter’s struggles against Fernando Torres were “a bit of a myth”.

Van Dijk has been criticised for a drop in levels this season amid Liverpool’s poor campaign and received scrutiny for his role in Arsenal’s opening goal in Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Anfield. After the game, Carragher responded to assessments of Van Dijk’s displays this term, mooting that the Dutchman had more quality than five-time Premier League winner Vidic.

Carragher wrote: "VVD is far better than Vidic, who was a top CB, but have you forgot his performances against Torres? Rio & JT had poor seasons in their career like all players, VVD is having one now. No CB in the PL era has ever had VVD’s impact on a team."

Many took issue with Carragher’s claims, especially the reference to Torres against Vidic. Former United centre-back partner Ferdinand was one of them, telling YouTube show Five how he was left baffled by the statement.

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He said: “I saw Jamie Carragher tweet something about Van Dijk being better than Vidic. I don’t know why, or why that was said or whatever. He mentioned [Fernando] Torres – I think Torres scored three goals in 15 games against Vidic. I think it’s a bit of a myth.

“I think he had a couple of dodgy moments in those games, and he got sent off a couple of times, but that’s kind of been amplified into saying he got tortured every time we played against Torres, which wasn’t the case.

“Three goals in 15 games. [Marcus] Rashford I think has got six in 13 games against Liverpool, does that mean he’s tortured Van Dijk and Van