Matthijs de Ligt’s international break went from bad to worse as he was hauled off at halftime during the Netherlands’ UEFA Nations League grudge match with Germany.
Former Ajax and Juventus centre-back De Ligt joined United from Bayern Munich last month, sealing a reunion with Erik ten Hag.
De Ligt played the best football of his career under Ten Hag as a thrilling Ajax team reached the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League in 2018/19, but the 25-year-old has failed to regularly hit the heights since.
High-profile mistakes have been an unfortunate feature of his game and, after being substituted on his full United debut following a rash second-half yellow card in the 3-0 loss to Liverpool, De Ligt has endured a miserable time with his country.
The Netherlands were 1-0 up thanks to Tijjani Reijnders’ early goal in Amsterdam before De Ligt aimed a dreadful pass into midfield and Germany equalised through Deniz Undav.
De Ligt also failed to deal with the danger when Joshua Kimmich gave Die Mannschaft the lead in first-half stoppage time, by which point head coach Ronald Koeman had seen enough.
Matthijs de Ligt has been taken off at halftime for Jan Paul Van Hecke.
Mentally a massive blow. pic.twitter.com/gBxI7BvHPu
— 𝐀𝐅𝐂 𝐀𝐉𝐀𝐗 💎 (@TheEuropeanLad) September 10, 2024
At the break, De Ligt was replaced by Brighton’s Jan Paul van Hecke. The Netherlands improved in the United man’s absence and earned a point through Denzel Dumfries’ equaliser.
Tuesday’s game followed a similarly poor showing in the Oranje’s 5-2 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina, where De Ligt was at fault for Ermedin Demirovic’s goal.
“I think you know how I feel, we won but then comes the individual part,” he told reporters afterwards.
“I should have done better at their second goal, and I know that. I don’t really know what happened.. I should have cleared the ball but I kept having doubts during the play. It’s just f*****.”