Ballon d'Or: Virgil van Dijk will lose to Lionel Messi claims expert
Ballon d'Or hopeful Virgil van Dijk has trolled Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of the 2019 awards ceremony in Paris this evening. The Liverpool defender is the favourite to take home the award alongside Lionel Messi.
Van Dijk was asked on the red carpet what he would make of Ronaldo’s rumoured absence at the event for a second year in a row, and he responded by questioning whether the 34-year-old was truly in the race to win.
When asked what it would be like having one of his rivals not show up, the 28-year-old replied: “Was he a rival then?”
Goal France have claimed that Ronaldo will instead be attending the annual Italian football awards on Monday evening in Milan, and snubbing the Ballon d'Or.
The Juventus forward will be there to pick up his trophy for winning the Italian Football Association's Footballer of the Year for 2019, after winning Serie A in his first full season.
Ballon d'Or 2019: Virgil van Dijk has poked fun at Cristiano Ronaldo (Image: GETTY)
The 2018 winner Luca Modric was asked a similar question to Van Dijk shortly after he lifted the award for the first time, and he was far from happy with both Ronaldo and Messi for not showing up.
Modric said: “I cannot say why someone did not attend – that’s their choice, that is logical, is it not?
"It turns out these choices and trophies only have value when they get them.
“It is not fair to their playing colleagues, or to the voters who have nominated them for the past 10 years – nor for football or supporters."
Ballon d'Or 2019: Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk is hoping to win for the first time (Image: GETTY)
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Jurgen Klopp has given his thoughts on Van Dijk’s prospects of winning the Ballon d’Or for the first time, but outlined why Messi will always be a threat.
“If you give the Ballon d'Or to the best player of this generation then you should give it always to Lionel Messi. That’s how it is,” Klopp said.
“But if you give it to the best player of last season, then it was Virgil van Dijk. I don't know exactly how it will work but that is how I see it.
“The best player of all? That's Lionel. Best player of last season? That’s Virgil. We will see.”
Ballon d'Or 2019: Van Dijk, Ronaldo and Messi will go head-to-head (Image: GETTY)