Anwar Ibrahim (Cairo)
The Dutch “veteran” Rafael van der Vaart, the former Real Madrid player, criticized his compatriot Frenkie de Jong, Barcelona’s midfielder, expressing his astonishment at his slow performance with the team, and his failure to pass the ball quickly to a teammate, which greatly affects the team’s transition from defense to attack. It deprives him of the ability to score goals, as happened in Napoli's match in the first leg of the round of 16 in the European Champions League, which ended in a 1-1 draw, at Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, Naples' stronghold, despite Barcelona's control for most of the match.
Speaking to Dutch television, Van der Vaart described his compatriot Frenkie as playing as if he were a “postman,” accusing his performance of negativity, because he takes a long time before passing the ball to a colleague. Van der Vaart added in his speech, excerpts of which were quoted by the Catalan newspaper Sport, saying: If he moves away from the opponent with the ball, he is supposed to pass it quickly to one of his fellow attackers, so that the difference can be made by surprising the opponent’s defense, but unfortunately he does not do that.
On the other hand, Van der Vaart expressed his dissatisfaction with the method that “Barca” uses when taking corner kicks, by resorting to short passes to a nearby teammate such as Pedri, Lamine Lamal, or De Jong, instead of raising it to the opponent’s penalty area, and he said: This method provokes me greatly. I feel very frustrated when it is implemented in this way, because raising it directly could pose a greater danger to the opponent’s defenses.
However, the Sport newspaper said that while Van der Vaart admitted that he did not like the performance of his compatriot, the Barcelona technical staff led by News about the possibility of his departure for one of the top players in the English Premier League, especially Manchester United.
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