Frenkie de Jong has said that the Netherlands will keep a ‘special eye’ on Cristiano Ronaldo when they meet Portugal in the final of the inaugural Nations League.
England's hopes of a first trophy in 53 years went up in smoke in calamitous fashion as dreadful defending allowed Holland to seal a 3-1 extra-time victory and progress to the inaugural Nations League final.
Marcus Rashford's first-half penalty was cancelled out by Matthijs De Ligt, before two late goals from Quincy Promes sent the Dutch into Sunday’s final.
And 22-year-old midfielder De Jong, who shone in the middle against England, has revealed that the Netherlands will be keeping a close eye on Ronaldo after his hat-trick eliminated Switzerland.
“Portugal have a lot of really good players,” De Jong said after the win over England. “I saw a bit of the Switzerland game and obviously Ronaldo made the difference; we'll have to keep a special eye on him.”
De Jong, who will join Barcelona from Ajax this summer, also shot down the suggestion that the Dutch will be fatigued after their extra-time win.
“Fatigue may have been an issue if we'd lost but not with a win. We're all pretty fit and we haven't had many games recently,” he said.
“One of our big plus points is that we keep going. We all run for each other and never give up. It's not the first time we've come from behind.”
