Ruud Krol takes up for Matthijs de Ligt, who was sent off at the European Championship with a red card during the game in the eighth final between the the Dutch and the Czech Republic (0-2). Marco van Basten believes that the central defender has learned little in his first two seasons in Serie A, but Krol believes that De Ligt has become one of the top defensive players in Italian football.
“Italy is the perfect school of defense,” said Krol, who played for Napoli between 1980 and 1984, in an interview with Radio Bianconera. “And Matthijs has grown enormously in his role in the past two years. He deserves compliments, because he is one of the best defenders in Serie A. He has had a special season, with the injury and the new coach (Andrea Pirlo, ed.) who filled in the defensive aspect in a different way. With the arrival of Massimiliano Allegri, a lot will change again, that is really a genius in defensive terms,” Krol praises the new Juventus coach.
Matthijs de Ligt takes responsibility after defeat
The defender is guilty after the failure at the European Championship of the Dutch.
Krol does not believe De Ligt will leave Juventus any time soon, despite rumors of a premature departure from Turin. “I don’t believe that. He already plays for a great club where he can take every detail of the art of defending. And I personally don’t think De Ligt is unhappy at Juventus. years for this club,” said the former defender of Ajax and the Dutch national team.
De Ligt made somewhat unfortunate hands against the Czechs, in order to stop an attack. After a check at the VAR, he was shown the red card. The the Dutch then lost control of the game and was painfully eliminated. For Krol, that is no reason to tackle De Ligt hard. “His position at the Dutch is a problem, because he does not play that way at Juventus. Fortunately, Matthijs is still very young (21 years, ed.) and someone who can learn from his mistakes. At the age of thirty it would be a different story. “
“And even the very best players sometimes have a bad night,” Krol continues. “He is still a very valuable player, nothing will change that. Only as a defender you should never actually make mistakes, especially not in Serie A. For example, an attacker like Álvaro Morata can miss a lot of opportunities, but if he then once scored, it is immediately a national hero. On the other hand, a defender is immediately dragged through the mud if he makes a mistake,” concludes Krol.
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