Carragher acknowledges that to compete with Cristiano Ronaldo for trophies at Liverpool, he set rules. The legendary player for Liverpool, Jamie Carragher, has said that in the late 2000s, he established regulations in the Reds’ locker room to combat Cristiano Ronaldo’s quest for honors.
At the time, Ronaldo was a Manchester United player who competed for the PFA Player of the Year title against former Liverpool players Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres.
Carragher acknowledges that to compete with Cristiano Ronaldo for trophies at Liverpool, he set rules
Carragher and Gerrard shared the field 571 times and 129 times, respectively, and contributed one goal together. “Well, no one can vote for his opponent,” the former defender said in the Stick to Football podcast, “when I would get the forms and believed someone had a real chance of winning anything, like Stevie or Fernando Torres for player of the year! I would see to it that way. Players couldn’t vote for him, I would tell them.
Carragher’s efforts were in vain, as Gerrard was the winner once in 2006, and Torres was beaten by Ronaldo in 2008 despite having a fantastic season. While the Portuguese legend scored 44 goals in all competitions and won the trophy for a second straight season, the previous Spanish international scored 33 goals.
Still, Gerrard and Torres had excellent careers at Anfield. In 710 games in all competitions, Gerrard scored 186 goals. He provided 157 assists to help the Reds win the 2005 UEFA Champions League.
In contrast, Torres concluded his 142 Merseysiders games with 81 goals and 20 assists.
Virgil van Dijk, a defender for Liverpool, mentioned Olivier Giroud, a former player for Arsenal and Chelsea. His hardest opponent but left out Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Dutch center-defender listed several other notable players as players who gave him trouble when defending. It includes Gabriel Jesus, Erling Haaland, and Sergio Aguero.
Giroud and Van Dijk have faced off 14 times with the Frenchman’s team winning seven and losing four of those encounters. However, the center-back has only prevailed in two of his five meetings with Ronaldo.
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