Fans have targeted Virgil van Dijk after his comments about Matthijs de Ligt making a mistake as the Netherlands drew 2-2 against Germany.
Van Dijk started alongside De Ligt at centre-back in Amsterdam, but the Manchester United star was at fault for Germany's first goal as he gave the ball away inside his own half. Germany capitalised on the error, with Deniz Undav scoring their equaliser.
De Ligt was ultimately taken off at half-time, with manager Ronald Koeman replacing him with Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke. The game ultimately ended in a 2-2 draw and Van Dijk sent a message to his team-mate.
"This is football," the Liverpool captain said. "You have to learn from this. It was one moment but at the highest level you will get punished for it."
However, some fans have taken issue with Van Dijk's comments and claimed he was at fault for Germany's second goal for failing to track Joshua Kimmich at the back post. One wrote: "Van Dijk was sleeping and couldn't even mark the back post, yet the media will just be all about De Ligt."
Another said: "I'm not being funny but out of the 3 Netherlands players involved there, de ligt is the least at fault. Dumfries hasn’t got a clue where he is and Van Dijk just lets his man run behind him for a tap in."
A third wrote: "Meanwhile Virgil van Dijk is the one at fault, if he's in position this is a simple interception & the goal doesn't happen. It is reputation > production, as per. People criticising Matthijs de Ligt are showing they are doing it because of his club, not footballing reasons."
De Ligt also started the Netherlands' 5-2 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday, but was at fault for both of the goals his side conceded and the 25-year-old gave an honest assessment of his performance after the game.
"I think you know how I feel, we won but then comes the individual part," he said. "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****d. If this game is a missed opportunity for me? I don't know, I just try to do my best."
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