{"id":1092196,"date":"2019-06-04T17:43:51","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T16:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1092196"},"modified":"2019-06-04T17:43:51","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T16:43:51","slug":"liverpool-barnes-van-dijk-ballon-dor","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/liverpool-barnes-van-dijk-ballon-dor\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool legend backs Virgil van Dijk&#8217;s bid for Ballon d&#8217;Or"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Former Liverpool winger John Barnes believes Virgil van Dijk deserves to win this year&#8217;s Ballon d&#8217;Or.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Van Dijk lifted his first piece of silverware as a Liverpool player on Saturday after keeping a clean sheet in the 2-0 Champions League final win against Tottenham.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Van Dijk&#8217;s extraordinary year: Five key things to know&#8230;<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Liverpool improved defensively in the second half of last season following Van Dijk&#8217;s arrival from Southampton.<\/li>\n<li>The Reds failed to beat Real Madrid in the Champions League final last year but kicked on after the painful defeat.<\/li>\n<li>Van Dijk was at the heart of a Liverpool back line that conceded just 22 goals in the entire 2018\/19 Premier League season, fewer than any other side.<\/li>\n<li>Despite missing out on the title to Manchester City, Van Dijk was named PFA Player of the Year.<\/li>\n<li>And after winning the Champions League last week, he could be considered for the 2019 Ballon d&#8217;Or.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>https:\/\/audioboom.com\/posts\/7278637-klopp-must-solve-wenger-s-dilemma-to-take-liverpool-forward<\/p>\n<p>The usual culprits, including Lionel Messi, will be in the running for the 2019 Ballon d&#8217;Or at the end of the year.<\/p>\n<p>But Barnes insists Liverpool&#8217;s towering centre-back is worthy of picking up the gong ahead of any attacking players.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNormally when you look at the Ballon d\u2019Or winners,&#8221; Barnes told <a href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/football\/552480\/virgil-van-dijk-liverpool-ballon-dor-lionel-messi-john-barnes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">talkSPORT<\/a>, &#8220;they\u2019re either attacking midfield players or centre-forwards. They are goalscorers and eye-catching players.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut there haven\u2019t been any of those types of players who have really set the world alight this season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo from a point of consistency and from a point of success, for me Van Dijk would have to be the man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"UEFA Nations League: Everything You Need to Know\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-fJL-ebgvvA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Subscribe to <a href=\"http:\/\/sqwk.at\/Squawka-Sub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Squawka\u2019s Youtube channel here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why Messi is Van Dijk&#8217;s main competition<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Messi and Van Dijk went head-to-head when Barcelona faced Liverpool in the Champions League semi-finals.<\/p>\n<p>In the first leg Messi scored twice as Barcelona eased to a 3-0 win at the Nou Camp, but Liverpool&#8217;s extraordinary comeback at Anfield \u2013 which included yet another clean sheet for Van Dijk and Co \u2013 proved decisive.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, Van Dijk will find it difficult to win the Ballon d&#8217;Or ahead of Messi after another incredible season for the Argentinian.<\/p>\n<p>Messi scored 51 goals in 50 appearances across all competitions, hitting the 50-mark for the sixth time in his career.<\/p>\n<p><script>(function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(d.getElementById(id))return;js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src='https:\/\/embed.playbuzz.com\/sdk.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}(document,'script','playbuzz-sdk'));<\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"playbuzz\" data-id=\"66c974de-b77b-4864-9922-f0029ea5359e\" data-show-share=\"false\" data-show-info=\"false\" data-comments=\"false\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Liverpool winger John Barnes believes Virgil van Dijk deserves to win this year&#8217;s Ballon d&#8217;Or. Van Dijk lifted his first piece of silverware as a Liverpool player on Saturday after keeping a clean sheet in the 2-0 Champions League final win against Tottenham. Van Dijk&#8217;s extraordinary year: Five key things to know&#8230; Liverpool improved&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":278,"featured_media":1091835,"parent":0,"menu_order":6572,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"%%title%%","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Lionel Messi will be among the favourites for the 2019 Ballon d'Or but John Barnes believes Virgil van Dijk is a genuine contender.","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"news-category":[],"class_list":["post-1092196","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"external_featured_image_url":"","hide_featured_image_pattern":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Liverpool legend backs Virgil van Dijk&#039;s bid for Ballon d&#039;Or<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lionel Messi will be among the favourites 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