Barcelona looked towards an embarrassing round-of-16 exit in the Copa del Rey. The Catalan kinds were one goal down with just 30 minutes to go against the second division side, Rayo Vallecano. However, they were able to steal the victory in the last moment with a Lionel Messi equalizer and Frenkie de Jong’s 80th-minute winner.
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Frenkie has become an integral part of Ronald Koeman’s team and he is showing why the dutch manager is backing him. The 23-year-old midfielder has made 27 appearances so far in all competitions and has scored five goals while providing four assists. He has already been more effective than last season and he has really started to shine under Koeman.
Koeman who had the privilege of working with the young talent before in the Netherland national team has mentioned that the player has become more complete after joining Barcelona.
The former Everton manager said that he had observed the player before when he was in Ajax and now he has grown more as a player. In the post-game interview, Koeman said,
"“We’ve spoken to him about helping out in attack and scoring more than one goal a season. He’s a more complete player now than when he played for Ajax. He creates and scores more.”Source Goal"
Although De Jong has been primarily given a more defensive role and was even played as a centre-back once, he has still managed to influence the forwards with his attacking mind. He has the technical ability to play a bit more attacking and this season he has regained his confidence.
Koeman is very pleased with the player and with the entire team’s positive attitude. The manager said while it is sad that they could not win the Supercopa, they have picked up a lot in the La Liga and can now challenge the league leaders. Barcelona currently sit in the third position, 10 points behind league leaders Atletico Madrid, who have a game in hand.
Are you impressed with De Jong’s performances at Barca?