Jurgen Klopp felt Virgil van Dijk was unlucky to finish second behind Lionel Messi at the 2019 Ballon d'Or awards, but was pleased to see his performances praised by AC Milan great Franco Baresi after the ceremony.
After Van Dijk missed out on the Ballon d'Or award, Italian legend Baresi took to social media to voice his disapproval over the final result, expressing his belief that Van Dijk was last season's best player.
Klopp sees the former Milan defender's glowing praise as a real feather in Van Dijk's cap, as he told a press conference on Friday: "Baresi praised Van Dijk, that is like being crowned by the king!"
Liverpool winger Sadio Mane ended up finishing fourth behind Messi, Van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo, with Klopp confident he can "climb that Ballon d'Or chart" in the future if he continues on his current trajectory.
"The first three in the Ballon d'Or were Messi, Van Dijk and Ronaldo," he said. "Then Sadio. Sadio is in incredible shape. I can remember his first goal v Arsenal, running down the line, cutting inside - incredible. He's made big steps.
"Sadio can climb that Ballon d'Or chart, he is in a really good way. Internally, of course, he is not (under-appreciated).
"In the Ballon d'Or, having two players in the top five is nice. Ali [Alisson] and Mo [Mohamed Salah], too. We played a good season. We have to respect that."