Gary Neville showed little compassion towards Matthijs de Ligt on Sunday evening. The defender of the Dutch national team had an important part in the elimination of the European championship with a red card, as the Czech Republic took the lead ten minutes after the moment in question and the the Dutch delivered the final blow (0-2). While the main character in question took responsibility on Dutch television, the red card was extensively analyzed in England.
There seemed to be very little going on for the Dutch national team, which had a great chance after halftime via Donyell Malen to open the score, but instead ended up with one man less not much later. “He’s going wrong,” said Neville at ITV. “As a defender, you only slip when you’re in the wrong place. He tries to correct his first mistake, but it’s just very badly defended.” De Ligt, with Patrik Schick in his neck, seemed to miss a deep ball. The center defender then slipped and touched the ball with his hand to prevent the Czech striker from enjoying a free passage towards Maarten Stekelenburg.
De Ligt appeared in front of the camera of the soon after the game NOS to bear the responsibility. “Ultimately that changes the game. It’s that simple,” said the defender, who followed in the footsteps of John Heitinga with his red card. Heitinga also saw red against the Czech Republic at a European Championship in 2004. “That should not happen to me. When I see how the team continues to fight in the last minutes, I can only be proud. Then I feel very responsible. That feeling I honestly hadn’t. I thought we were in control and had some chances in the first half.”
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Referee Sergei Karasev initially showed De Ligt a yellow card, but was called to the video screen by VAR and reversed his decision. “De Ligt looked slow in the first half,” said Neville, who believes that the game could only go one way after the red card. “It was inevitable that the Czechs would score a few minutes after the red card. The Netherlands capitulated with the second goal.” The Dutch fell behind via Tomás Holes and saw how Schick decided the game ten minutes before the end. The team of national coach Frank de Boer will return to the Netherlands on Monday.
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