Matthijs de Ligt set for awkward international break reunion after “outrageous” Man Utd claim

Manchester United defender Matthijs de Ligt was called up to the Netherlands squad for the international break after initially being left out.

Matthijs de Ligt has been in fine form for Manchester United in recent weeks, playing every minute of the last seven fixtures.

With other defenders – such as Harry Maguire and Leny Yoro – suffering injuries throughout these recent weeks, De Ligt has held down the fort impressively.

Ruben Amorim believes that the Dutch defender has stepped up and it seemed unfortunate that he was not initially called up for the Dutch squad for upcoming Nations League fixtures.

However, after injuries occurred, Ronald Koeman decided to bring De Ligt back into the squad for their fixtures over the next two weeks.

De Ligt set for awkward international break reunion

De Ligt and the Netherlands squad qualified from their Nations League group in second place and are set to face Spain in the quarter-finals of the competition.

There will be two legs to decide who progresses to the next round and De Ligt may be set for an awkward reunion with a couple of players after United knocked Real Sociedad out of the Europa League earlier this month.

The Reds won 5-2 on aggregate against the La Liga opposition and were easily the best team across the two games.

But the Spanish team felt extremely aggrieved afterwards, with their official club website labelling the contest as ‘outrageous” and the performance of the referee as “absolutely disgraceful”.

United were awarded two penalties in the second-leg victory while Sociedad were awarded one in the first-leg and another in the second-leg. The Spaniards also had a player sent off after denying a goalscoring opportunity.

The anger seems quite strange but it is there. Martin Zubimendi and Álex Remiro are with the Spain team this international break and both players will be hoping to knock De Ligt’s side out of the competition.

Why Zirkzee isn’t included in Dutch squad

While the United defender is travelling away with his national team, his teammate Joshua Zirkzee will feel slightly hard done by that he was not also chosen in the squad.

Zirkzee’s performances have been much better in recent weeks but Dutch boss Koeman still sees areas that he needs to improve.

“He wasn’t in the preliminary selection because I don’t think he’s good enough at the moment,” the 61-year-old told reporters last week.

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“In particular, scanning when turning or passing often goes wrong. Yes, in principle, form and fitness are always leading, but that is not always possible.

“We have a lot of central defenders and midfielders, but we are somewhat limited up front. But even then, I still think that you have to earn your selection, and I think he doesn’t deserve that now, but that could be the case again in another period.”

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