Vidic v Torres head to head record shows there was only one real winner

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Nemanja Vidic is in a class of his own at centre-back and Virgil van Dijk comes nowhere near the Manchester United legend.

If you happened to watch Virgil van Dijk’s performance in Liverpool’s draw with Arsenal at the weekend, you will have noticed the Dutchman was, well, not great.

This led to some criticism of the player who some had heralded as one of the greatest centre-backs in Premier League history.

When it comes to comparing Van Dijk with Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Jaap Stam, or even John Terry, the Liverpool defender just doesn’t have a case to back it up.

Jamie Carragher has a different view, choosing to defend Van Dijk from criticism by boldly claiming him to be better than Nemanja Vidic.

He wrote on Twitter: “VVD is far better than Vidic, who was a top CB, but have you forgot his performances against Torres? Rio & JT had poor seasons in their career like all players, VVD is having one now. No CB in the PL era has ever had VVD’s impact on a team.”

The pundit then doubled down: “If you or anyone thinks Vidic is better than VVD you’re not watching the same game! He’s miles better!!”

Vidic v Torres myth needs busting

The argument to criticise Nemanja Vidic because he had a couple of poor games against Fernando Torres is one which needs to be viewed through a wider lens.

While at Liverpool and Chelsea, Fernando Torres played 15 games against Nemanja Vidic, and only managed to score in three of those games.

So while there were a couple of haphazard, uncharacteristic moments from Vidic among those 15 matches, the full picture shows the Serbian got the better of Torres on a regular basis.

Vidic won the Premier League five times for Manchester United, being voted into the PFA Team of the Year four times, winning the Premier League player of the season award twice, an incredible achievement for a centre-back.

Torres failed to win the Premier League once for either Liverpool or Chelsea.

Speaking about the battles with Torres, Vidic dismissed the notion he struggled against the Spaniard.

He told FourFourTwo: “People say: ‘You had a difficult game against Torres’, but it was just the one game. I went to head the ball but changed my mind and tried to pass to Edwin [van der Sar]. I misjudged the distance and Torres scored.

“Drogba was tougher. Torres always created a chance to score, but Drogba was on you for the full game.”