Following the Champions League draw last Friday, opinions surrounding Virgil Van Dijk and Sergio Ramos have already started.
Six-time winners Liverpool will face serial winners Real Madrid in the last-eight of the competition. With the Reds looking for revenge following their last meeting, that 3-1 loss in the Champions League final.
This game allows fans of both clubs and neutral fans to see the best players in Europe go head to head over two legs.
The draw for the quarter-finals sees two of the most successful teams in this competition go head to head. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY MARCA.
Sadly, one player who will not take part is Liverpool’s leader at the back Virgil van Dijk. The Dutchman is still recovering from that knee injury that was sustained in the Merseyside Derby.
However, that has not stopped the debate of ‘van Dijk or Ramos’ from gathering momentum since the draw.
But who is the better defender? I have looked at three key areas to help settle that argument.
Leadership
This a good one to start with, with only of these two players being captain of the current club. However, for van Dijk, his leadership does not rely on wearing the armband for his team. We have seen that this season with the Dutchman out injured Liverpool’s backline has looked far from its best.
Not having van Dijk in there leading the line and demanding the best from his teammates has hurt Liverpool.
With Sergio Ramos, it almost feels like the leader in that side was always Cristiano Ronaldo. He was the man that Real Madrid always looked towards in the club’s biggest games. Now with Ronaldo gone, Madrid have looked nowhere near what they once were, with Ramos failing to lead in Europe’s biggest competition.
1 vs 1 defending
This is certainly one of van Dijk’s strongest attributes, with the Dutchman going the whole of the 2018/19 season without being dribbled past. To put that into context in 64 games no one managed to get passed him. The centre-half strikes fear into opposing players before a ball is even kicked.
Even the Lionel Messi could not dribble past Van Dijk in their two games against each other. ALL RIFHTS RESERVED BY BLEACHER REPORT.
With the Spaniard, playing for Real Madrid you would think that one vs one defending would be a strong point. However, his disciplinary record paints a very different picture.
Ramos has 26 red cards to his name in his career, making him the most sent-off player since 2000.
Big game moments
Since his arrival from Southampton, van Dijk has had some big game moments in a Liverpool shirt. His debut winning goal against Everton in the FA Cup alongside his MOTM performance in the Champions League final are two highlights.
Sadly, this one has to go to Sergio Ramos after scoring multiple goals in finals for Los Blancos. He has scored in two Champions League finals (including a last-minute equaliser vs Atletico Madrid), two UEFA Super Cup finals and two Club World Cup finals. Those goals are included in the 101 he has scored since moving to Madrid from Sevilla.
