Hard blow for the Netherlands. This Friday, at the Stade de France, Ronald Koeman will indeed have to do without the services of two key players in his squad, Frenkie de Jong and Steven Bergwijn. The Barça midfielder and the Ajax Amsterdam striker are injured and will watch their teammates start the first match of Euro 2024 qualifications against France from a distance.
“The Barcelona player has pain in his thigh following the duel against Real Madrid”, lamented the KNVB (the Dutch federation) in a press release the day after the clasico of La Liga won 2-1 by Barça at Camp Nou against Real Madrid. “The absence of the midfielder is detrimental for the Netherlands”, recognized Ronald Koeman, the Dutch coach, successor to Louis van Gaal at the head of the Oranje, during a press conference, also on Monday.
“Frenkie is an important player for this team, he has qualities that few players have. But his absence does not mean that we are going to suddenly change the system, it would be strange,” added Koeman, who last Friday showed his desire to abandon 5-3-2 to return to 4-3-3.
Striker Steven Bergwijn (Ajax) for his part “had to give up due to a knee injury”, according to the KNVB, which specified that he would be replaced by Donyell Malen (Borussia Dortmund), who played 19 times for the Dutch team, with 4 goals to his name. De Jong will be replaced by Joey Veerman (PSV Eindhoven), who has no selection.
