Van Dijk Names Ex-Arsenal Striker As His Toughest Opponent

Virgil van Dijk has revealed that his toughest opponent his former Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud.

Van Dijk disclosed this to Manchester United legend Gary Neville on The Overlap.

The Dutchman has faced all of the world’s top forwards along the way.

He has come up against the likes of Lionel Messi, Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski but singled out Giroud as his most difficult opponent.

“Funnily enough, [Olivier] Giroud,” he told Neville on The Overlap when asked about his toughest opponent.

“I always felt like I got him, but somehow, he always managed to score. Whether it was for Arsenal, Chelsea or France, he always scored.

“I said to him when we won the league, we won 5-2 we were 3-0 up or something and he scored a scrappy goal, I think it was against the crossbar and fell down, scrappy goal, I said to him: ‘You scored again?!’

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“So I would say he is the guy that scores against me, and just that annoying person.“

Van Dijk added:“There’s so many fantastic strikers I’ve played against, Messi, [Sergio] Aguero, [Erling] Haaland is a difficult one because he has everything, but I’m going for Giroud as he’s my bogeyman – annoying!”

In 12 games against Van Dijk Giroud, who plies his trade with AC Milan, has six goals.