Sergio Ramos Or Van Dijk? Who is the better player?
It has been a pattern for Sergio Ramos to be compared to great defenders. In his early days, he was compared to legendary defenders like Puyol and Maldini when he moved to Real Madrid from Sevilla. Later they compared him with Pique, Bonucci, Thiago Silva and other defenders. Now they still compare him with new upcoming defenders like Van Dijk. The longevity of Sergio Ramos is unmatched as no other defender can stay at the top for 15-16 years.
The Liverpool main defender won the hearts of many people in a very short time in Premier League. He won the Premier League and the Champions League but because of injury, his great form came to a pause. It has been up for debate about who is the better among these two.
Is Van Dijk better than Sergio Ramos?
Let’s settle this guys
— GIANT OF ENUGU 🦍 (@Chris_Baba_) December 20, 2019
Sergio Ramos or Van Dijk? pic.twitter.com/o09b7iALWs
1: Personal Stats
When it comes to defenders the only stats they are compared for how many clearances they make in 90 mins or duels they win. The primary target for every defender is to stop the attack rather than be a part of it. If a defender can do both then surely he should be considered among the best.
Overall Career Stats:
Ramos made some of the best memories in the history of football with the massive goals he scored in his career. It is clear that Ramos is better than Van Dijk when it comes to G/A contributions for his team. The other best way to compare them is to compare their prime season.
Sergio Ramos is so good that is difficult to find one prime season out of all his seasons. However, in 2018/19 Van Dijk won the Champions League while in 2016/17 Ramos won the Champions League and the Premier League.
According to these stats, they are too close. Ramos has better speed and dribbling skills while it was impossible to get past Van Dijk in the whole season.
Keeping all things in mind Ramos slightly edges over Van Dijk as he has been at the top for too long and has better stats than him.
Sergio Ramos vs Virgil van Dijk
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) May 26, 2018
Who do you think will earn the higher WhoScored rating in tonight's Champions League final?
🔁 = Ramos
❤️ = Van Dijk pic.twitter.com/Vs0kOTLKmV
2: Titles
Sergio Ramos has seen many glories over the years in Madrid. The El Capitan of Real Madrid has lifted more Champions League trophies in Madrid than any of their past players. The partnership of Pepe and Ramos is considered to be one of the deadliest in the history of La Liga.
No player would like to mess with Pepe or Ramos. The Captain of Spain and Real Madrid won a total of 25 trophies in his career.
Sergio Ramos Titles:
World Cup x1
Euro Cup x2
La Liga x5
UEFA Champions League x4
UEFA Super Cup x3
Club World Cup x4
Supercopa De Espana x4
Copa Del Rey x2
U-19 Euro x1
Van Dijk played for Groningen, Celtic and Southampton before joining Liverpool. In his time at Celtic, he won 3 titles while in Liverpool he won 4.
Van Dijk Titles
1x Premier League
1x Champions League
1x FIFA CWC
1x UEFA SuperCup
2x Scottish Champion
1x Scottish League Cup
It looks like Van Dijk needs to do a lot more for reaching the level of Sergio Ramos for lifting titles. The El Capitan of Madrid is the clear winner here.
⚪️ 16 years at Real Madrid. 4 #UCL titles 🏆
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) June 16, 2021
Sergio Ramos 🙌 pic.twitter.com/FCi1SfGDGy
3: International Career
The Netherland National played a lot less than Ramos and failed to win anything for his country. It doesn’t mean that the player did not play well for his country but he always amazes everyone with his international performance. Until now they didn’t but that can change in future
On the other hand, Sergio Ramos is captain of Spain with many things under his belt. The player has scored 23 goals for Spain in his career which helped them in winning big titles.
Ramos also holds the record of being the most capped player (180) in the history of Spain. He is the clear winner in this category. It has to be the ‘Captain Marvel’.
Virgil van Dijk has scored 4 goals and grabbed one assist in his last 6 games for club & country.
— LFC Stats (@LFCData) March 21, 2019
He has 3 in his last 4 for the Netherlands. pic.twitter.com/cRUDDsTW1R
4: Individual Titles
A player is considered to be great based on the heroics he shows on the pitch. Players like Sergio Ramos and Van Dijk can die for their team and that has earned them individual honours and respect from fans all around the world.
List Of Individual Achievements Of Van Dijk:
- PFA Players’ Player of the Year: 2018–19
- PFA Team of the Year: 2018–19 Premier League, 2019–20 Premier League
- PFA Player of the Month: November 2018
- Premier League Player of the Season: 2018–19
- UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award: 2018–19
- UEFA Defender of the Season: 2018–19
- UEFA Team of the Year: 2018, 2019, 2020
- UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20
- UEFA Nations League Finals Team of the Tournament: 2019
- Liverpool Fans’ Player of the Season Award: 2018–19
- Southampton Player of the Season: 2015–16
- PFA Scotland Team of the Year: 2013–14,[28] 2014–15
- Celtic Players’ Player of the Year: 2013–14
- FIFA FIFPro World11: 2019, 2020
- IFFHS Men’s World Team: 2019,[164] 2020
- IFFHS World Team of the Decade: 2011–2020
- IFFHS UEFA Team of the Decade: 2011–2020
- ESM Team of the Year: 2018–19, 2019–20
- Football Supporters’ Federation Player of the Year: 2019
List Of Individual Achievements Of Sergio Ramos:
- La Liga Breakthrough Player of the Year: 2005
- FIFA FIFPro World11: 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
- UEFA Team of the Year: 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020
- FIFA World Cup Dream Team: 2010
- La Liga Best Defender: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17
- UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament: 2012
- FIFA Confederations Cup Dream Team: 2013
- UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2013–14, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18
- FIFA Club World Cup Golden Ball: 2014
- FIFA Club World Cup top scorer: 2014
- UEFA Ultimate Team of the Year: 2015
- La Liga Team of the Season: 2015–16
- UEFA La Liga Team of the Season: 2016–17, 2019–20
- ESM Team of the Year: 2007–08, 2011–12, 2014–15, 2016–17
- UEFA Defender of the Season: 2017, 2018
- IFFHS Men’s World Team: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
- IFFHS World Team of the Decade: 2011–2020
- IFFHS UEFA Team of the Decade: 2011–2020
- IFFHS World’s Highest Scoring Defender of the Decade: 2011–2020
- IFFHS World’s Highest Scoring Defender of the 21st century: 2001–2020
- Castrol Performance Index: 2010 FIFA World Cup Castrol Index Winner
- Castrol Performance Index: UEFA Euro 2012 Castrol EDGE Index Winner
- Luis Aragones Award: 2016
- Ballon d’Or Dream Team (Bronze): 2020
- L’Équipe Team of the Year: 2020
- 11Leyendas Jornal AS: 2021
The Liverpool player won the UEFA Men’s player of the year award and was close to winning the Ballon D’or where he lost by a fine margin from Leo Messi. However, the list of Sergio Ramos is long and filled with prestigious titles. Ramos has the most FIFPro appearance after Cristiano and Messi which is an achievement in itself.
Both of them are quite close but given the fact, Van Dijk is much younger than Ramos he is the winner in this category.
Sergio Ramos will receive his 11th FIFPro XI award, only Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi (both 13) have more. pic.twitter.com/erbJyttypy
— Madrid Xtra. (@MadridXtra) December 14, 2020
5: Club
Van Dijk moved a lot more than Ramos in his career. He used to play for the Scottish giants Celtic before joining the Premier League in 2015. Southampton signed him in 2015 where he caught the eye of Liverpool scouts who pitched an offer for him. Since then Liverpool has been his home and his dominance just keeps growing in England after this move.
Ramos came from the youth academy of Sevilla. The Spaniard wanted to be the captain of Sevilla but his request was denied. The scouts of Real Madrid saw potential in him and signed him with a promise of making him the captain in future. We all know what happened after that when he was given the captaincy of Real Madrid.
There are players that came to Madrid and left a legacy behind. There are players who came to Madrid and became legends. And then there is Sergio Ramos, the man who became the king of Real Madrid. We can’t live without this man. pic.twitter.com/oP1Ma0ns1v
— Xav Salazar (@XavsFutbol) October 24, 2020
Is Van Dijk better than Ramos?
These two players have experienced some really great moments in their careers. The fans of Liverpool have many reasons to love Van Dijk as their glory period returned with him. Van Dijk has all the traits required to be a great defender and he has proved himself many times in the previous season.
All of that is not enough to surpass Sergio Ramos. Other defenders may be good for some time but Ramos is a complete package. The ultimate captain every team need if they want to win titles. He has mastered all the skills in his mind to make him the greatest ever.
Van Dijk may be the best defender right now but Sergio Ramos is the greatest defender of all time.
Reference:
Wikipedia
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