Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk insists he harbours no fear by the challenge of trying to stop Lionel Messi and Barcelona in Wednesday’s Champions League semi-finals first leg clash at Camp Nou.
Messi helped deliver back-to-back LaLiga titles for Barca – his 10th league title with the club – and the Spanish giants are now eyeing a treble.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has scored 46 goals this season, 10 of those coming in the Champions League, but Van Dijk recently crowned PFA Players’ Player of the Year on Sunday in England does not fear Messi despite his achievements this season.
“I think he is the best player in the world,” Van Dijk, said in a media conference ahead of the game.
“But you see how we play and how we defend.
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“We don’t defend one v one, we defend all together and we attack all together as well, so we will see. We will be ready.”
“The situation is that we are in the semi-final against Barcelona and we are going to face the best player in the world but it is not only him, the whole team has a lot of quality.
“We will prepare well and we have also a very good team so we can compete there. It is not like we are going there for a holiday.”
“I see what we have. I see the players we have, I see the management and the way we play football so it is not really a big surprise but you still have to do it and we have to do it on Wednesday.
“It is going to be unbelievably tough because Barcelona are one of the best teams in the world but anything can happen. You need to be ready for problems and we will be. We are going to try everything to go through to the final.”
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