Nemanja Vidic has been voted as a better defender in his prime than Virgil van Dijk.

After the footballing world ground to a halt amid the coronavirus pandemic, supporters have reopened the debate between Liverpool's star man and the Manchester United legend.

World Cup winner Frank Leboeuf first fanned the flames of the debate in mid-March, telling ESPN FC: "I would go for Van Dijk. I think he's more complete.

"I loved Vidic, because I think he was a dog, and a fantastic defender. But Van Dijk can lead the team and has range. I don’t think Vidic was capable of doing that. Hats off to Vidic, though."

That then prompted Vidic's former teammate Rio Ferdinand to respond on his Instagram Live: "I’ve got to go with Vidic because he was my partner, man. He was my partner.

Vidic vs Van Dijk

"He covered my back and I covered his. That was it. I love Van Dijk, don’t get me wrong. I love him. Best defender in the world now, definitely.

"I’d love to have seen him play in our time, seen what he was about. That would have been interesting. But top player.”

As a result, there's been a back and forth between supporters on social media, debating whether Leboeuf is bang on the money or Ferdinand is right to stand by his old partner.

Fans vote Vidic > Van Dijk

Well, here at GIVEMESPORT, we decided to settle the argument for good and uploaded a poll on our Facebook page over the last 24 hours, which more than 200,000 of you responded to.

And as the top of the article stated, Vidic was the man to emerge victorious with 54% (110,322) of the vote, edging out Van Dijk's strong effort with 46% (93,978) backers.

So, yes, Vidic is the better defender in the eyes of our readers, but it goes to show that the debate could get closer as years go by with less than 10,000 votes separating them at this stage.

Who knows what will happen if Van Dijk starts to collect Premier League trophies at the rate Vidic once did... so, don't get too excited, United fans.

GIVEMESPORT's Kobe Tong says

The people have spoken and the people are bang on the money.

At this stage, Van Dijk simply can't answer to a defender with a trophy collection of five Premier League titles, three League Cups, a Champions League crown and the FIFA Club World Cup.

And the argument that Van Dijk is a better pound-for-pound defender is also unsubstantiated because, lest we forget, Vidic won the Premier League Player of the Year award twice.

So, who knows, there might be a day where the Liverpool star surpasses Vidic's achievements and ability, but we can say with confidence that that day hasn't arrived yet.

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