Virgil van Dijk, since leaving Southampton for the bright lights of Liverpool, has carved himself into one of the greatest defenders in Premier League history – and he once named two of his childhood inspirations as a means of perfecting the art of defending.
A fierce enforcer who has won everything there is to win at club level, Van Dijk is seldom beaten by centre-forwards and, as a result, is likely to spend the twilight period of his career at the top of the beautiful game, whether that be at Anfield or elsewhere.
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But who did modern football’s best central defender admire in the infancy of his life? Born in 1991, he grew up watching a plethora of top talents ply their trade as trailblazing centre-backs – but there were two, in particular, who stood out to the Dutchman.
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During Van Dijk’s childhood, Serie A was the most domineering league in world football – and AC Milan were at the forefront of said superiority. That Rossoneri side that boasted Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta, the two players who inspired Van Dijk, was labelled as 'something completely different' by the defender.
I loved both Nesta and Maldini. That Milan [side] were something completely different.
No doubt two of the greatest defenders to grace the beautiful game, they both utilised their Italian roots to perfect and streamline the art of defending – and more notably, Catenaccio, which translates to 'door-bolt'. In fact, some of the greatest defenders of all time are from Italy.
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That includes the likes of the Ballon d'Or-winning Fabio Cannavaro, Juventus royalty Gaetano Scirea and Franco Baresi, who played 716 times for AC Milan between the popular duad of Maldini and Nesta are no exception to the notion.
Owing to the intelligence and innate defensive stability of the AC Milan hero – who played a record 901 games in the club’s fabled red and black strip – Maldini once said: "If I have to make a tackle, then I have already made a mistake.”
Van Dijk Picks His Favourite Between Italian Duo
‘Everyone has their own opinion’
But which of the two aforementioned Italians does Van Dijk believe is superior? Well, contrary to the common belief, the Reds skipper believes that Nesta was the better defender of the two and insisted that his style of play reminded him of tennis’ Roger Federer.
When you talk about Nesta, you mean elegance. He made everything so simple. Watching Alessandro play was like watching Roger Federer.
“Players like him showed us, defenders, the way to go," the current Liverpool captain continued before adding: "I respect him a lot, as I do all the other Milan defenders who won European competitions at that time. I learned a lot from each of them.”
Concluding that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, Van Dijk insisted that Nesta – from an array of choices – is the best Italian defender of all time. “Everyone has their own opinion, but in my opinion, Nesta was the greatest Italian defender.”