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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
James Findlater

Manchester United target Frenkie de Jong reacts after hobbling away from awful challenge

Frenkie de Jong wasn’t too happy with the referee after finding himself on the receiving end of a horror tackle during his latest appearance for the Netherlands.

De Jong played the full 90 minutes as the Dutch came from 2-0 down to rescue a draw against Poland. Goals from Davy Klaassen and Denzel Dumfries saw them fight back after Matty Cash and Piotr Zielinski struck for the visitors, although former Manchester United forward Memphis Depay missed the chance to complete a comeback victory as he missed a stoppage-time penalty.

United fans may well have been watching the Netherlands game with interest, with summer targets De Jong and Jurrien Timber both in action. United supporters will have been left wincing after De Jong was subjected to some rather rough treatment.

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With just over 15 minutes gone and the game still goalless, Grzegorz Krychowiak caught De Jong on the ankle with a bad challenge but escaped with a yellow card. Speaking after the game, the Barcelona midfielder was adamant that Krychowiak should have been given his marching orders.

“I felt it on my ankle, but it didn't bother me that much,” De Jong told the media. “Looking back at it, I think it is a red card.

“I thought the referee was a bit vague today, to be honest. He didn't have it today. That can happen. I think he wasn't ready for it.”

On his side’s draw, De Jong added: “I think it's really good that we came back from 2-0 down. We did that well. We always kept going. That's a good sign but normally we have to beat Poland at home. I think we created too little in the first half.

“We were often sloppy, didn't make the right choices, especially in the first half. The second half was better. They make the field a lot smaller than Belgium. Belgium sometimes puts more pressure and Poland was not planning to do that.

“That's fine, but it was difficult to play football. We became more and more dangerous in the second half and in the end we still had enough opportunities.”

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