Ruben Dias has proven to be an inspired piece of business by Manchester City.

The centre-back was signed from Benfica in a £65 million deal last summer and he has transformed the team's defence in his first season.

Dias' imperious performances at the back have made him one of the favourites to win the 2020/21 PFA Players' Player of the Year award.

His success in English football has unsurprisingly lead to many football fans comparing the Portuguese star to Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk.

The debate over who is the superior of the pair has been raging on for quite some time and it's now intensified after City's 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.

During that game, Dias was absolutely bossed by Erling Braut Haaland, with the Norwegian brushing the defender aside with ease.

Liverpool fans have now put footage of that incident alongside Van Dijk's battle with Haaland in the 2019/20 Champions League group stage - and there's certainly a significant difference.

Take a look for yourself...

Video

Van Dijk swats the giant striker away like a fly, while Dias is left in a heap on the turf.

Of course, we're not saying the video is conclusive proof that Dias isn't fit to lace the Liverpool man's boots, far from it.

However, the footage should serve as a reminder to everyone about just how marvellous Van Dijk is, something that City legend Vincent Kompany previously admitted.

In fact, the Belgian labelled Van Dijk as the best centre-back in Premier League history, ahead of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand.

“I would bring it back to Virgil van Dijk," Kompany told SPORF.

"It’s a weird one because he hasn’t been on the scene for as long as these names we mentioned, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, these guys were there for a long, long time.

“But the signs he showed in his last few years just make it so obvious that if he would’ve been at the top, top level before that, he would’ve been already further as well.

“And from what I’ve seen in terms of having an impact on the team, and a defender is never about himself, it’s about his communication with other guys and how you make your team more solid.

“And the Liverpool before Van Dijk and the one after him, it’s a completely different setup, and I’ll give him that one because of that.”