Sergio Ramos has not been well liked by Liverpool fans for some time after his antics in the 2018 Champions League final, but the Real Madrid star has given his backing to Reds centre back Virgil van Dijk over the Ballon d'Or.
Van Dijk beat Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to the prize of UEFA's Best Player at the recent Champions League draw.
And Ramos has backed the Dutch defender to once again come out on top ahead of five-time winners Messi and Ronaldo.
'If Van Dijk wins it, it will be on sufficient merit - great defender,' Ramos, speaking at the launch of his Amazon documentary, said.
'As a defender, it's harder. It seems as though it's not just Messi and Cristiano [now]. It seems there's a route opening [for others].'
Messi and Ronaldo have dominated the award between them with the duopoly taking home the Ballon d'Or every year between 2008 to 2017.
Luka Modric, a beaten World Cup finalist with Croatia, was the winner last season after guiding Real Madrid to a third consecutive Champions League under Zinedine Zidane.
But Van Dijk is in a special moment in his career having lifted the European Cup himself back on June 1 in Madrid and he added the UEFA Super Cup earlier this season by beating Chelsea in Istanbul.
The FIFA Best Awards will take place at the Teatro all Scala in Milan on September 23.
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