Koeman satisfied with experiment with Frenkie de Jong: ‘That is the...

Barcelona won 2-1 against Dynamo Kiev in their own stadium on Wednesday evening. After previous victories over Feréncvaros (5-1) and Juventus (0-2), qualification for the knockout phase of the Champions League is already close for the Catalans. Trainer Ronald Koeman was nevertheless critical of the game of his team, but was positive about Marc-André Ter Stegen and the role of Frenkie de Jong as center-back.

“We started very well, created opportunities and should have been at least 2-0 ahead. After that we had problems checking the match and the spaces. The problem was in the middle of the field. We have to admit that the opponent managed to create more danger than we had expected in advance, ”he said Sport from the mouth of Koeman. “We know that we cannot play well every game. Sometimes you earn more in certain competitions, sometimes less. In this case we may have earned less, but we won. ”

“We know we have to improve without the ball, we have given the opponent too much space. You have to learn from that and try to improve yourself ”, the Barcelona coach continues. “It’s important to get nine points from the first three Champions League matches. We had to get off to a good start and knew we would not win any game easily. Today was not good, but we played a great game against Juventus. ”

View the summary of Barcelona – Dynamo Kiev

Marc-André Ter Stegen played against Dynamo Kyiv after being absent for weeks and immediately showed himself important for Barcelona again. “We were lucky that he could play again today. The truth is, he played a phenomenal game. In several one-on-one situations he managed to save very well. He has once again shown that he is a world-class goalkeeper, he played perfectly ”, Koeman praises the German goalkeeper. De Jong, who played as a retracting center-back, can also count on compliments.

“Clément Lenglet had played many games in a row and had some physical problems. We had foreseen a match like in the first twenty minutes, in which we could play in their half and create dominance in midfield with De Jong ”, Koeman explains. “At first that went well, but at a certain point the pace in the game went down. The most important thing is that De Jong can play in that position. That way we have a defender who can dribble in with the ball, and thus cause an excess in midfield. ”

“We may not be the favorite in the Champions League because of our performance over the years. But if we work hard with our group of talented and young players, the results will come back automatically ”, added Gerard Piqué after the match against Dynamo Kiev. “The club is undergoing a transition. In recent years we have become a little less good and now we are trying to turn that around. That is not an easy process, but we want to achieve a good result every game. There are no gap years at a club like Barcelona. We have no time to lose, hopefully things will get better soon. ”