Virgil van Dijk and Ronald Koeman speak out on Matthijs de Ligt after latest blunder | Football

It finished 2-2 in Amsterdam after Tijjani Reijnders opened the scoring for the Dutch after just two minutes, but Germany were ahead before the break through Deniz Undav and Joshua Kimmich. Denzel Dumfries equalised on 50 minutes for the home team.

Undav’s goal came from a De Ligt mistake as the Manchester United defender gave the ball away under no real pressure at the back.

The centre-back’s pass out was intercepted and the former Brighton striker eventually lashed a shot past current Brighton goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.

Koeman addressed a mistake De Ligt made in the previous match against Bosnia-Herzegovina and had to do so again on Tuesday, admitting that his recent blunders led to his substitution at half-time.

‘This is football. You have to learn from this,’ he said. ‘It was one moment but at the highest level you will get punished for it.’

De Ligt had a moment to forget during Netherlands’ 5-2 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina on Saturday, which he admitted to being disastrous himself.

‘I think you know how I feel… we won… but then comes the individual part. I should have done better at their second goal, and I know that,’ he said. ‘I don’t really know what happened. I should have cleared the ball but I kept having doubts during the play. It’s just f****d.’

Koeman said of the incident: ‘He himself realises that he was in the wrong position. This should not happen, but mistakes are part of football. I think it is unfair to make a big deal out of it.’

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