Liverpool captain, Virgil van Dijk has named Olivier Giroud the most difficult player he has faced in his career.

At 32, Van Dijk has come up against a lot of world-class players, both in the Premier League and in Europe.

However, the Dutchman has now admitted that no one has given him as much problems as the former Chelsea and Arsenal striker.

Asked to name his toughest opponent, the Premier League defender told France Football: “Olivier Giroud. Every time, you think you’ve got a hold of him, that you’ve got him well marked, but he always manages to score in one way or another: with his head, his foot, his knee.

“He has often scored against me.

“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.”

Van Dijk also revealed something he told Giroud after the French forward came off the bench to score for Chelsea during the 5-3 win at Stamford Bridge in 2020.

He added: “I said to him when we won the Premier League, we won 5-3 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?!’

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

Giroud spent three years with Chelsea before leaving to join AC Milan back in 2021.