Monday, September 6, 2021 at 13:50• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 13:57

Louis van Gaal believes confidence in one’s own abilities is one of the most important elements in top sport. The national coach of the Dutch sees remarkably enough similarities between Max Verstappen, Memphis Depay and himself, he stated at the press conference on Monday afternoon.

Verstappen won the Zandvoort Grand Prix in Formula 1 on Sunday. “The most important thing about Max is that he has confidence in himself,” Van Gaal responded. “And that’s rock-solid confidence. You just heard from Memphis that he also has rock-solid confidence in the team. That makes me happy, because I also have rock-solid confidence in myself. So we’re all on the same wavelength.”

Depay said that, incidentally, in an answer to the question whether he feels pressure to perform with the the Dutch. “No, I believe in it and trust that the team knows what to do,” said the center striker of the Dutch national team. “That we have confidence in that. A match lasts ninety minutes, we know that we are going to create opportunities.”

Van Gaal saw good things in training before the press conference on Monday. “I think after the first game I said that Memphis didn’t get the ball in his time,” said the national coach. “The man without the ball decides and that is in general Memphis. And this morning in training: twice on his shoe, on time. And we scored,” he laughed.