Sports
Van Dijk ‘the best ever’? Rank great Premier League centre-backs

liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk put in another excellent performance to frustrate Manchester City striker Erling Haaland on Sunday.
The 2-0 win moved Liverpool nine points clear at the top – and 11 points above four-time-in-a-row champions City.
It led ex-Reds defender Jamie Carragher to declare on social media, external that Van Dijk is “the best centre-back we’ve ever seen in the Premier League”.
“I always said it was John Terry before Van Dijk came along,” he continued.
“All great defenders of the past had attackers who caused them problems, but who ever causes Van Dijk any?
“He’s just played against [Real Madrid’s Kylian] Mbappe and Haaland in the last four days and played them with such ease he could’ve played with a cigar.
“Please stop this silly debate about the best centre-back, it’s not even close.”
Netherlands defender Van Dijk, 33, has more than justified the world-record £75m Liverpool paid Southampton to sign him in 2018 – helping the Reds to win the Premier League and Champions League title.
The former Celtic player has won 148 of his 210 Premier League games for Liverpool, with his 70.5% win ratio – of centre-backs – only behind Manchester City defender John Stones and ex-Manchester United player Nemanja Vidic.
Only Vidic, Arsenal legend Tony Adams and Chelsea icon Terry have a higher clean sheet percentage than Van Dijk’s 43% at Liverpool (of players with 200 or more starts).
Van Dijk has won a higher percentage of duels and aerial duels than any other Premier League centre-back since 2006-07 (excluding those who have not been involved in many).
Of centre-backs to have played 3,500 minutes or more since January 2018, Van Dijk has been dribbled past less often per 90 minutes than anyone else. On average a player gets past him once every seven games (it has only happened 29 times).
Former Blackburn striker Chris Sutton, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Monday Night Club, said: “[Ex-Leeds and Manchester United player] Rio Ferdinand was a slightly different player to Terry.
“Terry was a phenomenal defender. Tony Adams was a brilliant leader.
“I get the Van Dijk shout as well. He has absolutely everything. People would look at Ferdinand’s trophy haul and say ‘well it has to be him’.
“Currently yeah, I think he is – that’s me sort of copping out a bit but John Terry was phenomenal as well though so can we have a joint three – Terry, Ferdinand and Van Dijk?”
Ex-Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given added it is “all about different opinions”.
“Ferdinand, Terry, Vidic, Jonathan Woodgate in his prime before he went to Real Madrid, Colin Hendry at Blackburn, John Stones get a mention in his prime?”
And he added “what a player” Paul McGrath was.
We want you to rank these 10 iconic Premier League centre-backs. There were so many quality ones to choose from that some legends had to miss the cut.
Sports
Havertz online abuse has terrible consequences – Arteta

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says the online abuse of striker Kai Havertz and his wife has “terrible consequences” and needs to be “eradicated from the game”.
Havertz was criticised for his performance in Sunday’s FA Cup defeat by Manchester United, after he missed a glorious chance to win the game in normal time and then had his penalty saved in the shootout as United won 5-3 on penalties following the 1-1 draw.
The German’s wife Sophia shared screenshots of the “shocking” abuse she received on social media amid the game, including threats to the couple’s unborn child.
Arsenal have reported the abuse to the police and are working with a specialist data firm to identify the culprits, but Arteta says more must be done as he spoke before Wednesday’s north London derby against Tottenham.
“It’s incredible, honestly,” he said. “We really have to do something about it, because accepting that and hiding this has terrible consequences.
“It’s something we have to eradicate from the game because it’s so cynical and dependent to a result of an action.
“There is no other industry like this. When we played Ipswich on December 27, we won 1-0 and Kai Havertz scored. The whole stadium after that is singing the ‘Waka, Waka’ (his chant). That was 20 days ago. Where is the perspective?
“We are all responsible. That’s a really serious matter. It affects me. It affects him and everybody that is in the industry.
“We can accept it and say ‘that’s our job’, but there are certain limits and the line has to be drawn. We put a lot of attention on technology and what is next in football.
“What is next in football is that this should be prohibited. It cannot happen. That’s it.”
Meta, who own Instagram, removed the content for violating its policies.
Sports
I will not be the coach of a Red Bull team – Klopp

Jurgen Klopp says he has made a “clear commitment” that he will not become manager at one of the Red Bull clubs after starting his role as the organisation’s head of global soccer.
The former Liverpool manager was named in the role last year before officially starting at the beginning of 2025.
He has not had a managerial role since leaving Anfield last summer following a highly-successful nine year spell.
Klopp’s new role sees him take more of an oversight role across a number of clubs including RB Leipzig, Red Bull Salzburg and New York Red Bulls.
But when asked at a media conference on Tuesday whether he might be tempted back into day-to-day management if a role at one of the clubs becomes available, Klopp said emphatically said “no”.
“I will not be the coach of a Red Bull team,” he said. “That is a clear commitment. As much as you can give a guarantee, I will not be a coach at all.
“I am probably the only person in this room who will be asked where are you in five years, I don’t have a clue.
“But I will not be a replacement of one of the Red Bull coaches.
Sports
Rising star Fonseca knocks out ninth seed Rublev

Joao Fonseca had a Grand Slam debut to remember as he knocked out ninth seed Andrey Rublev in the first round of the Australian Open.
The 18-year-old Brazilian thrilled the crowd as he caused the biggest upset of the tournament so far with a 7-6 (7-1) 6-3 7-6 (7-5) victory against Rublev.
Fonseca was playing in his first main-draw match at a major, having come through three rounds of qualifying without dropping a set in Melbourne last week.
The victory extends his winning streak to 14 matches – but who is tennis’ latest rising star?
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