Virgil van Dijk name-dropped five players when asked to pick his toughest ever opponent

Virgil van Dijk takes on all comers.

The Liverpool juggernaut is one of the greatest centre-backs in football history and many of the world’s finest forwards have found going up against him an impossible task.

From his immaculate one-on-defending to electrifying football IQ, Van Dijk is ahead of the game when it comes to finding a million and one ways to stop a world-class opponent.

However, just because Van Dijk can seemingly stop every striker and their dog, that doesn’t mean that certain forwards cause him more of a headache than others.

Footage of the 30-year-old keeping pace with Kylian Mbappe before landing the perfect slide tackle might look straightforward, but it’s the product of hard work, grit and intelligence.

The simple fact of the matter is that anything less than 100% concentration isn’t good enough if you want to go 90 minutes without even giving the striker a split-second to get the better of you.

And Van Dijk gave a tantalising insight into which strikers have forced him to focus the most when they’ve played each other during a chat with Rio Ferdinand for BT Sport.

Not only did the Dutchman provide fascinating tactical insight and his ultimate five-a-side team in world football, but he also took on the question: who is the toughest opponent you’ve ever faced?

And while, unfortunately, Van Dijk didn’t settle upon a definitive answer, he did namedrop five opponents that he clearly thinks gave him a harder time than most across his career.

“Aguero was obviously unbelievable,” Van Dijk pondered. “Messi, arguably the best player in the history of football in my opinion. Mbappe is different, quick… Haaland and also Darwin. He’s a bit similar – very direct, quick, tall, strong and it’s quite difficult to