Highest percentages of duels won: Alves ahead of van Dijk - Ronaldo in Serie A top 20

“There is no better one,” Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp said on his defensive leader Virgil van Dijk last August. In 29 Premier League matches, the Reds only conceded 21 goals this season. The 28-year-old naturally made a major contribution to this achievement. Klopp emphasised the total package back then: Pace, reaction, intelligence on the pitch. Van Dijk ranks at the top when it comes to the percentage of duels won as well, however. Only one defender in the top 5 leagues is better than the Dutchman in this statistic: Bruno Alves, who plays for Italian club Parma Calcio 1913.

In the currently suspended season – due to the coronavirus pandemic – the 38-year-old Portuguese boasts the highest percentage of duels won of all players in the Serie A, Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga and Ligue 1. The only condition: The players must have been involved in at least 100 duels. Alves won 78.4 per cent of his – attackingly and defensively – followed by van Dijk, who makes the second spot in the top leagues’ ranking with 74.9 per cent.

In Scotsman Grant Hanley of Norwich City and Italy international Francesco Acerbi of Lazio, only two more players in the top leagues reach a success rate of over 70 per cent. Extending the range of the chosen leagues by Turkey, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal and Russia, further players can be added: Igor Plastun (Gent/70.7%), Sven Botman (Heerenveen/70.9%), Zainadine Júnior (Marítimo/71.5%), Samir Memisevic (Groningen/now Hebei China Fortune/72.3%), Olivier Deschacht (Zulte Waregem/73.6%), Vedran Corluka (Lokomotiv Moscow/74.0%) and Dmitri Chistyakov (Rostov/77.1%).

Tarkowski, Vertonghen and Boly complete EPL top 5 - Ronaldo 20th in Serie A

In the Premier League, Liverpool, Sheffield United and Leicester City boast the top three defences with 21, 25 and 28 goals conceded respectively. In addition to van Dijk, his teammate Dejan Lovren (7th with 67.0%), Blades defender Chris Basham (19th with 63.7%), as well as Brendan Rodgers’ centre-back pairing Jonny Evans (12th with 65.4%) and Caglar Söyüncü (17th with 64.0%) make the top 20 in the English top tier’s internal ranking. The top five of the league, which already contains the aforementioned van Dijk and Hanley, is completed by Burnley’s James Tarkowski (69.6%) and Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen (69.6%) in a joint third spot and Wolves defender Willy Boly (68.8%) in fifth.

Interesting: Attacking players are rare in the upper spots of the analysis of the top five leagues. Exceptions are Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo (20th in Serie A/59.1%), US Lecce’s Filippo Falco (7th in SerieA/61.7%) and Eintracht Frankfurt forward Bas Dost (62.4%), who is ranked 11th in the Bundesliga, tied with Borussia Dortmund centre-back Mats Hummels.