Jordan Henderson defends Virgil van Dijk over fake "lucky" quote on social media

Jordan Henderson was quick to defend Liverpool teammate Virgil van Dijk after a fake quote from Michael Ballack was widely circulated on social media.

Several outlets reported that Ballack had claimed that Van Dijk was fortunate to be playing in an era when the quality of Premier League attackers is seemingly not as high as it has been in the past, inferring that he may have struggled against those players.

It is claimed that Ballack said: “Virgil van Dijk is very lucky to play in an era where there is no Drogba, Lampard, Alan Shearer, Henry, Rooney, Van Persie, Tevez, Adebayor and Diego Costa in the Premier League."

Even though the German never uttered those words, the quote has been widely shared on social media, and Henderson caught sight of it on Instagram.

Responding to one post referencing the words, the Liverpool captain simply wrote: "They’re the lucky ones."

Henderson also heaped praise on Van Dijk earlier this month.

He told BT Sport : “I couldn’t speak highly enough of him as a player. Of course, everybody knows how good he is and what he’s done over the last couple of years for the team, he’s been immense.

"He’s won his individual awards and rightly so. He’s an unbelievable defender, an unbelievable player.

“But for me, he’s brought something huge off the pitch. I couldn’t speak highly enough of him off the pitch and the type of man and person that he is.

"He’s an incredible person, a great leader to have in the dressing room and he’s given everybody a big boost from the first minute that he came in.

“Every day it’s a pleasure to be around him, [he’s] always smiling, always in a good frame of mind and he’s had a huge impact in the dressing room and on the pitch since he’s been at the club.

“He does things properly, leads by example and I’m just delighted for him [with] how he’s been playing and getting all the awards that he’s been getting because it’s well deserved and he deserves everything he gets.”

Henderson and Van Dijk have both been key figures in what looks like being the season in which Liverpool will eventually secure their first league title in 30 years.