Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk admits he genuinely believed he would win the Ballon d'Or.

The 28-year-old has revealed the disappointment he felt to be beaten to the title of the world's greatest player by Barcelona 's brilliant ­Argentine talisman Lionel Messi.

"I was slightly disappointed," said Van Dijk. “I decided I would still go to the ceremony – and, in the end, it was a super night.

“I still consider it a great achievement to be up there with the ­biggest football icons in the world.

“I spoke to Messi during the ­evening. It was not the longest ­conversation because he doesn't speak a lot of English.

“But it was still enough to make me realise that the respect between us now also runs the other way."