The Netherlands managed to keep one point from the Nations League confrontation with Italy on Wednesday: 1-1. The formation of national coach Frank de Boer fell behind after fifteen minutes of play by a goal from Lorenzo Pellegrini, but ten minutes later Donny van de Beek made the equalizer again. The Italian newspapers are positively surprised by the game of Orange on Thursday and have compliments for De Boer and Frenkie de Jong, among others.

“Never before has a team crushed us as much as the Netherlands since we did this Being Italy ”, writes La Gazzetta dello Sport. The pink sports newspaper states that the Orange came out very differently compared to the previous meeting in September in the Johan Cruijff ArenA (0-1). “Pellegrini broke the spell and Van de Beek balanced the teams after an action by Frenkie de Jong, just a fantastic player.”

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Corriere dello Sport, which hands out a 7.5 to De Jong, is also full of praise for the midfielder. “The Netherlands adjusted its formation, but still managed to stick to the ‘geometry’ (patterns, ed.) Of Frenkie de Jong. He is the great playmaker, the complete game of the Netherlands starts with him. -1 was introduced by him. He dances with the ball and let Italy dance to his rhythm. Pure football intelligence. “

Rai Sport saw that De Jong divided and ruled and also Calciomercato believes the Barcelona midfielder dictated the pace. The latter medium hands out a 7 to De Jong. Jasper Cillessen, Van de Beek and Memphis Depay also receive high marks in the Italian press. Hans Hateboer is seen as the worst player on the Orange side. Atalanta’s back gets a slight fail in several newspapers.

The Italian press is also full of praise for De Boer, who opted for a 5-3-2 formation. “He surprised his Italian colleague Roberto Mancini like a chameleon,” writes Tuttosport for instance. Also la Repubblica saw that De Boer’s intervention worked out well. “This time Italy did not dominate thanks to De Boer’s intuitive choice. He caused a lot of nerves in the Italian camp.”