VIRGIL VAN DIJK has hit back at Piers Morgan after the TV presenter’s response over a joke the Liverpool star made about Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Dutch defender finished runner-up to Barcelona legend Lionel Messi at the Ballon d’Or ceremony last night.
Piers Morgan and Virgil Van Dijk have become embroiled in a Twitter row over comments the Liverpool star made about Cristiano Ronaldo
After he was voted ahead of Juventus forward Ronaldo, the 28-year-old could not resist a cheeky dig at the no-show Portuguese ace.
A reporter initially said to Van Dijk: “Cristiano Ronaldo won’t be here tonight, so that’s already one less rival to care about.”
And he responded tongue-in-cheek with: “Was Cristiano Ronaldo really a rival?”
However, not everybody saw the funny side of his remark.
After reading the comments on social media, Good Morning Britain presenter Morgan tweeted the centre-back and said: “No.. Cristiano is a far greater player, you’re not in his league.”
Credit: Twitter
Van Dijk reacted to Morgan, quickly trying to politely shut down his outrage.
The ex-Southampton and Celtic ace wrote: “Hi Piers, If you don’t jump on the social media bandwagon and would listen to the whole interview then you would know I made a joke, and only got respect for those 2 [Messi included alongside Ronaldo].”
Ronaldo – who last won the award in 2017 – was absent from the ceremony and has not posted on social media since the winner was announced.
Van Dijk’s defeat to the Argentinian was accepted in much more gracious fashion.
He said: “It was an amazing year, but there’s a couple of players like that who are a bit unnatural.
“So you need to respect greatness as well. I was close, but there was just someone a little bit better.
“I’m very proud of what I achieved last year with Liverpool and Holland, and hopefully we can do that again this year.
“But that will be tough with those guys around here still.”
Ronaldo was at an awards bash in Italy insteadCredit: Splash News
Lionel Messi wins Ballon d’Or 2019, becoming first player to win trophy 6 times
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
