Despite his heroic role, the Spanish newspapers are not entirely positive about Frenkie de Jong’s performance against Alavés. The Dutch midfielder scored the winning goal in Vitoria-Gasteiz three minutes before the end, resulting in a 0-1 victory for Barcelona. De Jong is portrayed in Spain as the ‘savior’ of Barcelona, but at the same time there is criticism of his game.
“Frenkie de Jong saved Barcelona in extremis. He showed up at the last minute to save Barcelona in a bad game with a goal, although that didn’t disguise the enormous shortcomings of this team. marca. “It looked like it was going to end in a sad draw, but with three minutes to go Barcelona turned out to have another secret weapon. De Jong has been heavily criticized in recent months and now appeared to score the winning goal.”
ASH thought that despite the winning goal, De Jong played a ‘very modest game’. “With few recaptures and without often presenting himself in possession. But in the end Ferran Torres offered him a goal on a silver platter. Let’s hope this is a tipping point for De Jong,” the newspaper writes. De Jong again had a base place against Alavés, after he had to put in a reserve role in the cup match with Athletic Club (3-2 after extra time) last Thursday and came in as a substitute.
“After the slap that Xavi gave him in San Mamés, De Jong returned to the starting eleven. It was a good game to take a step forward, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. He had 85 inconspicuous minutes until he appeared in front of the goal to make it 0-1. Hopefully this will be a springboard for him,” he said Sport, which gives De Jong a 5 for his performance against Alavés.
Frenkie de Jong saves Barcelona! ?????
Finally a good attack from Barcelona in a difficult game: this time it is ‘the other De Jong’ who can finish in the absence of Luuk ??#ZiggoSport #LaLiga #AlavesBarca pic.twitter.com/NI3GTZIGHj— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) January 23, 2022
“Xavi has asked De Jong to skip lines with the ball and to interfere in the attack. It’s not that he played a great game, but he was in the right place at the right time.” Mundo Deportivo. El Desmarque is a lot more critical of De Jong’s game. “He’s not the center of attention in midfield, he doesn’t shine, he doesn’t appear in the danger zones and he doesn’t add depth to Barcelona’s game. But he did score the golden goal shortly before the end.”
L’Esportiu writes that De Jong was worth his weight in gold with his goal. “The Dutch midfielder is being criticized because more is expected of him. He tried to surprise against Alavés,” the Catalan newspaper said. El Periodico is positive about the performance of De Jong. “In the early stages he was still determined to find his friend Luuk, but in the second half he appeared in the danger zones himself and finally found a goal.”