Jamie Carragher aimed a brutal dig at Erling Haaland as he called on fans to end the 'silly debate' over whether Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk is the best centre-back in Premier League history.

Liverpool legend Carragher hailed the Dutch defender's near-perfect performance against Manchester City, claiming that Van Dijk made Haaland look more his dad, Alf-Inge, who also played for City. The younger Haaland was shutout as reigning champions City suffered their sixth defeat in seven games, falling to a meek 2-0 defeat.

Haaland, who remains top of Premier League's goalscoring charts, has failed to find the back of the net in all his three visits to Anfield as a City player. Van Dijk - who only made one error in Sunday's game, nearly allowing Kevin De Bruyne to pull one back at 2-0 - has always been the man marshalling Haaland and that's partially why Carragher believes that the debate is 'not even close'.

"VVD performance today was unbelievable! (I know he made a mistake at the end!)," Carragher wrote on X. "He made Erling Haaland look like Alf-Inge Haaland!

"The best striker v best CB should be a great battle, but it's so easy for him. He's the best CB we've ever seen in the PL, I know the replies will scream Liverpool bias!!!! Or compare trophies to others but that's all nonsense. I always said it was John Terry before VVD came along & he played for one of my biggest rivals in Chelsea!!

"Trophies depend on your team or money or timing. All great defenders of the past had attackers who caused them problems, but who ever causes VVD any?? He's just played against [Kylian] Mbappe & Haaland in the last four days & played them with such ease he could've played with a cigar!!!! Please stop this silly debate about the best CB, it's not even close."

Is Virgil van Dijk the best centre-back in Premier League history? Give us your pick in the comments section.

Carragher also posted to say that 33-year-old deserved to win Man of the Match instead of goalscorer Mo Salah.

Back in October, the former Liverpool defender urged the club to keep hold of Van Dijk, whose contract is due to expire at the end of this season. "I think it's vitally important for the success of the new Arne Slot Liverpool that he's here for the next couple of years," Carragher stressed.

"He's definitely in Liverpool's all-time XI alongside Alan Hansen at centre-back. That might be a debate between the older generation and maybe the newer generation of supporters, who is the best. I think he's the best Premier League centre-back we've seen. We've had some great ones over the years for lots of different teams, but I think he's right at the top."

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