De Ligt big difference between football culture in the Netherlands and Italy
Matthijs de Ligt notices a serious difference between the football culture in the Netherlands and that in Italy. The result is sacred in Southern Europe, in the Netherlands it may still be important.
“Every match here is tough,” De Ligt notes in conversation with CBS Sports† “If you play against the number fifteen in the Netherlands and don’t win at least 3-0, the fans are disappointed. In the first season here at Juventus, we won 1-0 against the number last and everyone was so happy. I thought: what? Pleased?’
“Of course we would have won, but we should have scored a lot more because we had a much better team,” he added. ‘But the level of the clubs is closer together here. That’s the biggest difference, I think.’
De Ligt also had to get used to playing with stars. At Ajax he was one of the strongholds, but that was slightly different at Juventus. ‘In the beginning it was quite difficult. I am a respectful boy. Maybe I even had too much respect for the boys. We are all teammates and you have to challenge each other to get better. At a certain point you get to know the players and you talk to good colleagues of friends.’