De Jong hailed for England display

The young centre-mid put in a man-of-the-match performance as he pulled the strings from the heart of the Netherlands' midfield, and has since not stopped receiving praise for his outstanding display.

The first to praise him was his manager Ronald Koeman, who started him at the base of the Dutch midfield. "De Ligt and de Jong were really good. Especially Frenkie, he had an outstanding game", he said to 'COPE' after the match.

"De Jong was not following a plan or acting under some earnestly undertaken notion of DNA and blueprints. He is like a footballing unicorn, all magic dust and rainbows and feet that barely leave an imprint", wrote 'The Guardian' in response to his performance.

"He reminds me of myself", said Andrea Pirlo, who didn't need to add much else to explain how highly he rates the Dutchman.

Jamie Redknapp, who was forced to suffer through his performance as he commentated on the game in England, chose to compare de Jong to the current Ballon D'or holder: "He's the best. He's like Modric, he makes everyone around him better. I'm a big fan of his".

Above all, Barça's new signing was his own worst critic at the end of the game, saying: "I wasn't precise enough with some balls".