Despite Cristiano Ronaldo having five Ballon d'Or titles to his name, it has now been suggested that his two biggest rivals in the world at the moment are more important to their teams than he is to Juventus.
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Former Liverpool forward Stan Collymore, who was once the most expensive English player of all time, was speaking in an interview with the Daily Mirror when he shared his belief that Lionel Messi and Virgil van Dijk were more important to their respective sides than Ronaldo is to the Bianconeri.
"Virgil van Dijk and Lionel Messi are now the two most important players to their teams in world football," the former England international said.
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"Take Van Dijk out of Liverpool and Messi out of Barcelona, and not only is there a material change in playing quality, but, as importantly, in the attitude of the team.
"Van Dijk is now more important than Cristiano Ronaldo."
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Messi and Van Dijk both beat Ronaldo in the final ranking for the 2019 Ballon d'Or award, with the Portugal captain settling for third place behind the Argentina and Netherlands stars.
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