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#3 Virgil van Dijk | 2019 Champions League semifinal second leg
Virgil van Dijk, known as one of the best defenders in the game at the moment, famously stifled Lionel Messi in the 2019 UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg at Anfield.
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Trailing by three goals from the first leg and missing a raft of first-team players in the second, Liverpool hoped for a miracle to complete an epic comeback against treble-chasing Barcelona. However, Jurgen Klopp got more than he would have imagined in his wildest dreams.
The game was widely renowned for Georginio Wijnaldum's quickfire double coming off the bench that put Liverpool level on aggregate. But what is forgotten by many is that Van Dijk produced an absolute masterclass at the back, keeping Messi and Luis Suarez quiet all game as Liverpool won 4-0 on the night and 4-3 on aggregate.
Van Dijk had said about the threat of Messi the second leg:
"I think he is the best player in the world. But you see how we play and how we defend. "We don't defend one v one, we defend all together and we attack all together as well so we will see. We will be ready. The situation is that we are in the semifinal against Barcelona and we are going to face the best player in the world but it is not only him, the whole team has a lot of quality."
The Dutchman, who rarely gets dribbled past, more than lived up to his words against Messi and co at Anfield.
#2 Alphonso Davies | 2020 Champions League quarterfinal
Lionel Messi's Barcelona received an absolute hiding against Bayern Munich in the single-legged 2019-20 UEFA Champions League quarter-final.
With the Bavarian giants winning 8-2 on the night, the focus was understandably on their goalscorers. But what did not go missing was how Alphonso Davies tamed Lionel Messi that night.
In one of his marauding runs that night, Davies made a brilliant run down the left flank from the halfway line, beating Messi, Arturo Vidal and Nelson Semedo with a mixture of blistering pace and trickery before laying the ball to Joshua Kimmich for a simple finish.
An elated Bayern coach Hansi Flick said of Davies:
"It's just nice to see it. He has the quality and if he can now do it more often, that's even nicer. He has the confidence, now also against Barcelona."
Bayern went on to win the continental treble that season.
#1 Pablo Maffeo
This may come as a surprise. But out of the plethora of world-class defenders Lionel Messi has faced during his illustrious career, the Argentine himself has picked out little-known Girona left-back Pablo Maffeo as the toughest he has ever faced.
In an interaction with DAZN, Messi said:
"Man-marking doesn't bother me - you know that there will be tough matches and it can be strange to always have someone around you. In truth it hasn't happened to me that often. It doesn't bother me, but it is strange. Pablo Maffeo of Girona was the toughest man-marker. That was intense!"
Pablo Maffeo is a 24-year-old Spanish left-back who currently plays for RCD Mallorca, on loan from VfB Stuttgart.
