Virgil van Dijk has picked Olivier Giroud as the hardest striker he has faced in his career to date.
The Liverpool defender has played against some of the greatest strikers in the world during his career for the likes of the Reds, Southampton and the Netherlands. When discussing such rivals with Gary Neville on ‘The Overlap’, he’d name-drop Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Erling Haaland.
Yet it was former Arsenal and Chelsea star Giroud, now on the books of AC Milan, who the Dutchman opted for as he was clearly visibly annoyed when recalling just how many times the World Cup winner has scored goals against him.
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“Everyone’s got a player. Funny enough, Giroud,” Van Dijk said. “I feel like I got him, but in some way he always managed to score. Whether it was with Arsenal, Chelsea, France.
“I’ve said it to him as well, I think when we won the league when we won 5-3. We were 3-0 up or something and then he scored a scrappy goal. I can’t remember exactly, I think it was against the crossbar, fell down.
“Scrappy goal. I said to him, ‘You’ve scored again?!’ I would say that he is the guy that scores against me. Just an annoying person!
“There are so many fantastic strikers I’ve played against (like) Messi, Aguero. Haaland is a difficult one because he has everything (but) I’m going for Giroud. He’s a bogeyman, he’s annoying.”
In truth, looking back over Giroud's career, he isn't just Van Dijk's 'bogeyman' with the 36-year-old regularly scoring against Liverpool even before the Dutchman moved to Anfield. Scoring eight goals from 17 appearances against the Reds, he's only ever found the back of the net more times against Aston Villa and Newcastle United.
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