When Virgil Van Dijk Bested Erling Haaland In Early Meeting

Erling Haaland is set to move to the Premier League this summer, after his transfer to Manchester City was all but confirmed, giving us an intriguing future of battles with Virgil van Dijk.

Haaland's departure from Borussia Dortmund is not exactly coming as a surprise, and City have always been one of his potential destinations, and now the move is set to be completed sometime this week.

Reports on Monday claimed that the striker has already had his medical and defenders in England will be starting to worry about coming up against the 21-year-old next season.

He has scored 85 times in 88 appearances for Dortmund, proving he had no problem with the step up after moving to Germany from Austria, and continued his excellent record in European competitions too.

Van Dijk has already faced Haaland in the Champions League, when the striker was at Red Bull Salzburg, with the Liverpool centre back coming out on top in their second meeting.

In the game in Salzburg, Liverpool were the first side to stop Haaland scoring in the Champions League, in the final group game, with the Dutchman doing brilliantly to stop the striker who looked to be cruising in on goal.

Haaland looks to be in the clear. Image: YouTube

Van Dijk starts to catch up. Image: YouTube

Van Dijk out muscles the Norwegian. Image: YouTube

Sending the soon to be City striker to the ground. Image: YouTube

Asked in the past who the toughest defender he's faced was, Haaland said, "Virgil van Dijk. He was really good.

"How tall he is, how strong he is, how fast he is, but also the timing. I don't think I won one duel against him. Ramos was really smart and good so either one of them."

However, the former Salzburg striker did score in the first game between the two sides, a 4-3 win for the English side, with the former Southampton centre back playing in that game.

And they have faced since, when Norway played against Netherlands in a World Cup qualifier, with Haaland leaving his opponent with a broken finger.

Van Dijk himself has been complimentary about the forward, saying, "Haaland is a special striker, because he's so strong, he's quick, he's got all the attributes to make a defender's life very difficult."

Topics: Erling Haaland, Virgil Van Dijk, Manchester City, Liverpool, Champions League, Premier League, Red Bull Salzburg, Borussia Dortmund

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

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