The Dutch international made the difference for him with a winner 10 minutes from the end
Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman paid homage to his partner Frenkie de Jong after the midfielder feared the Catalans’ blush in Wednesday’s Copa del Rey tie with Rayo.
The Blaugrana appeared near a humiliating uprising when they finally fell to the side of the Segunda Division with less than 30 minutes left on the clock.
But they finally bounced back with an equalizer courtesy of Lionel Messi, before De Jong hit 10 minutes from the end to secure a 2-1 victory and advance to the quarter-finals.
Koeman probably knows better than most what De Jong is capable of, having made his debut in the Netherlands back in 2018 while still at Ajax.
But the coach believes there has already been great progress in the 23-year period since he arrived at Camp Nou.
“We need it,” Koeman told reporters after the game when asked about the winner of De Jong.
“We need the midfielders to be offensive. He has a lot of technical quality and he helps from depth.
“We’ve talked to him about helping him attack and score more than one goal of the season. He’s a fuller player now than when he played for Ajax. create and score more. “
Barca have stuck to a full fixture record in January, after a controversy over Supercopa de Espana over their La Liga and Copa commitments; and will be back in action Sunday against Athletic Club, who won in the final round of the previous tournament on penalties.
And while the Supercopa wasn’t going to design for the Blaugrana, Koeman confirmed that he’s happy with how his team has handled the matchups.
“It’s been a difficult month. There were a lot of away games and trips. There were eight games,” he said.
“The team has shown that they are up against this difficult month. We deserved to win the games.
“We got a lot of points. It ‘s too bad for the Supercopa final, but we have got back to our best in La Liga.
“When you win, you’re not so tired. The results will give us confidence. We’ll be fine for Sunday.”