Liverpool were drawn against Napoli, Red Bull Salzburg and Belgian side Genk this evening as the Champions League draw for 2019/20 was revealed.
Reds fans were understandably delighted with that, given it was a much easier draw, on paper at least, than the one the club faced last season, but that was not the only thing that was announced by UEFA this evening.
As well as the draw, several awards for the last campaign were handed out, including Alisson being named the goalkeeper of the tournament and Virgil van Dijk winning Defender of the Tournament and also Player of the Year.
With the POTY award going his way, Reds fans were queueing up on Twitter to predict that the next individual honour he will collect is the Ballon d’Or, which will be announced in December.
Totally deserved award for Van Dijk. Should bag Ballon D'or and Best player award as well.#ChampionsLeague #UCL #LFC
— Misbah (@Misbah278) August 29, 2019
https://twitter.com/0k0ks/status/1167136327156064257
Van Dijk is definitely going to win the Ballon D'or and that makes me so happy.#UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/TDQUTlcZ7o
— Habibi (@sakyibeaofori1) August 29, 2019
https://twitter.com/akmatt23/status/1167134593016836096
https://twitter.com/RRipple_s/status/1167131423356137473
Virgil Van Dijk with #LFC:
🏆 Champions League Winner
🏆 Super Cup Winner
🥈 Nations League finalist
🥇 PFA Player of the Year
🥇 UCL Player of the Year
🥇 UCL Defender of the Year
💪🏻 Most clean sheets in PL & UCL
📆 Not dribbled past for a yearBallon d’ Or next? 🏆 pic.twitter.com/D1LBWSAQpP
— LFC Transfer Room (@LFCTransferRoom) August 29, 2019
READ MORE:
Borussia Dortmund hilariously troll Barcelona with Reds reference during Champions League draw
Van Dijk beat Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to the UEFA POTY award – so there’s no reason to think he can’t do the same thing for the Ballon d’Or gong. Fingers crossed!