Inter Milan defender Stefan de Vrij has earned praise for a rock solid defensive display in yesterday’s Champions League win vs Red Bull Salzburg.
Today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, via FCInterNews, award the 31-year-old a score of 7/10 in the player ratings for the match.
Former Lazio and Feyenoord defender de Vrij was in the starting eleven for yesterday’s match.
The Dutchman is not necessarily first-choice for Inter anymore. The arrival of Francesco Acerbi last summer seems to have rendered de Vrij more of a backup option.
But that does not mean that Nerazzurri coach Simone Inzaghi will not still put his faith in de Vrij.
On the contrary, the coach doesn’t hesitate to give the 31-year-old opportunities.
And yesterday, the Corriere argue, de Vrij more than repaid his coach’s faith.
Stefan De Vrij Praised For Defensive Performance For Inter Vs Red Bull Salzburg
De Vrij came up against young Croatian striker Roko Simic yesterday.
The 20-year-old led the line for the Austrian champions from the start.
Simic attempted to use his physicality and pace to turn de Vrij, get into dangerous positions, and bring teammates into play.
But in truth the Salzburg striker didn’t have much luck.
De Vrij hardly put a foot wrong. The Nerazzurri defender exploited the gap in experience between himself and Simic to keep the young Salzburg striker from having too much of an influence on the match.
The man-marking from de Vrij was expert, and he also looked solid in possession.
And on Salzburg’s goal, the Dutchman was hardly at fault.
In that instance, Simic tried his luck against Alessandro Bastoni. He won his challenge for a long ball with the 24-year-old, who perhaps showed a bit of the kind of naivete that de Vrij hadn’t done in allowing the striker to get in ahead of him.
That allowed Simic to hold the ball up, resulting in the goal.
As such, the Corriere give Bastoni a score of just 5.5/10.
