Virgil van Dijk has urged Matthijs de Ligt to improve following the latter’s costly mistakes in the Netherlands’ recent matches.
De Ligt, who plays for Manchester United, has had a difficult international break.
Last week, during the Netherlands’ 5-2 win against Bosnia, he made a significant error that led to a goal.
Despite this, Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman kept faith in the defender, starting him in Tuesday’s 2-2 draw against Germany.
Unfortunately, De Ligt’s struggles continued in that match.
The former Bayern Munich player was at fault for Denis Undav’s goal and contributed to Joshua Kimmich’s equalizer.
As a result, Koeman substituted De Ligt at halftime, replacing him with Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke.
Speaking after the match, Van Dijk addressed De Ligt’s performance, offering a clear message to his national teammate.
The Liverpool captain said: “This is football.
“You have to learn from this.
“It was one moment but at the highest level you will get punished for it.”
Koeman agreed with Van Dijk’s assessment of De Ligt’s mistake and further explained his decision to substitute him at halftime.
“Of course I would rather have kept Matthijs de Ligt on the pitch,” he said.
“It just looks like he is now in a period where all his mistakes are being punished.
“I gave him a new chance today, but eventually protected him by taking him off.”
Koeman’s assessment comes just days after he tried to allay concerns over De Ligt’s mistake against Bosnia & Herzegovina.
He had also called for improvements, but it seems his appeal has gone unheard.
“We talked about it briefly. That was focused on the goal,” Koeman said on Monday.
“He is not in a good position. He did not come out well with his steps.
“That was an individual bad moment from a defender.
“You have to learn from that but also not be too dramatic about it. Don’t put too much emphasis on it.
“He also had very good moments on the ball.
“That resulted in another big chance, when he played directly forward once.
“But it is clear that he also has to improve.”
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