"Needs to leave in the summer" "He is not helping the team at all" - Fans want Barcelona star sold despite win over Dortmund
Fans took to X after Barcelona's 3-2 win against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League to call for the sale of Barca midfielder Frenkie de Jong. The Dutchman came on as a 71st-minute substitute as La Blaugrana secured a hard-fought victory against the Bundesliga giants on Wednesday, December 11.
Barcelona and Dortmund entered the contest with the same points (12). After a goalless first half, Dortmund started the second half by dictating proceedings. However, it was Barcelona who broke the deadlock through Raphinha in the 53rd minute.
Serhou Guirassy restored parity for BVB seven minutes later from the spot. Ferran Torres restored Barcelona’s lead in the 75th minute as he pounced on a rebound that Gregor Kobel parried in his direction. Dortmund equalized three minutes later as Guirassy completed his brace.
Dortmund pushed to find the winning goal but left themselves open at the back. They were punished by Barca as Torres fired the winner in the 85th minute.
While Frenkie de Jong wasn’t included in the starting lineup, he had quite a disappointing game in the 19-odd minutes he played. The former Ajax man only made two accurate passes out of seven attempts. He lost possession eight times, made the team concede a shot from an error he committed, and had a rating of 6.1 as per Sofascore.
Fans were unhappy with the Dutch international's performance.
''Frenkie is such a disgrace, needs to leave in the summer,'' an X user wrote.
Another tweeted:
''Despite the win, I wonder what happened with Frenkie.. At the moment he is not helping the team at all''
''Ferran had a better performance than frenkie and that speaks a lot…. i can’t wait until he is sold.'' @lezszerafim wrote.
''I don't take Frenkie seriously anymore to criticize him, he's just hilarious to me, his fans too.'' @smthngliketsai chimed in.
''Even shark got his form back, still Frenkie is ball watching'' @adam__LM10 added.
''Frenkie comes on and we feel like we can concede anytime, he is a net negative. If he gets any importance this season than i already know the outcome of this season. We are going nowhere if we make bums like him feel important.'' @nthdrivtv wrote.
Hansi Flick on Barcelona's win over Borussia Dortmund
Barcelona manager Hansi Flick assessed his side’s performance after their narrow win over Borussia Dortmund. The German said his side had an amazing first half while also claiming BVB played well.
Prior to the clash, Dortmund hadn’t lost a Champions League game at Signal Iduna Park since November 2021. Barcelona, however, showed their class and quality despite Dortmund equalizing twice.
After the match, Flick praised his players and said (via Barca Blaugranes):
“We can be very happy with what we did, as we believed. The first half was wonderful and in the second half, when they scored, we were stable,” he told reporters.
“Suffering is not the right word. Dortmund played very well. They are fantastic players who have a very high tempo, but we did well. The goals happened because we made mistakes. We can always improve, but today I have to say congratulations to the team because they did great,” he added.
Flick concluded:
“The positive thing was the ball possession in the first half. We played calmly. When we made the changes with Fermín and Ferran they were direct.”
Barcelona are second in the Champions League with 15 points from six games, three behind league leaders Liverpool.