Manchester City attacker Raheem Sterling congratulated Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk on being named UEFA Men’s Player of the Year on Thursday.
UEFA officially announced that the Reds centre-back had won the personal accolade during the Champions League draw and tweeted out confirmation that Van Dijk was the winner on the competition‘s verified Twitter account.
Sterling opted to send a one-word message to congratulate Van Dijk by responding to the Champions League’s tweet on him winning the award.
“Congrats,” wrote the Man City winger via his verified Twitter account.
Congrats ???
— Raheem Sterling (@sterling7) August 29, 2019
OPINION
Sterling may be playing for Liverpool’s most fierce rivals as far as the Premier League title is concerned, but game recognises game. It’s a classy move by the Man City star just to send Van Dijk a message to acknowledge his award, even if it was a brief tweet. Van Dijk more than deserves to be named UEFA’s Men’s Player of the Year for the 2018/19 season, as he was fantastic for Jurgen Klopp’s side. The Reds centre-back played 12 times in the Champions League last season, helping the Reds win the trophy in the process, and averaged a rating of 7.08 on WhoScored. Van Dijk won an impressive 3.4 aerial duels per game in his Champions League campaign to be a rock at the back and even contributed two goals in order to aid the Reds’ already formidable attack. It’ll be interesting to see if Van Dijk can repeat his glorious form in his current campaign in the Champions League, as if he does, then Liverpool may be able to retain one of the most glorious prizes in English football.
