Ajax star De Jong: "Maybe Sergio Ramos will regret it"
The midfielder who has already agreed to join Barcelona in the summer spoke about the upcoming Champions League second leg against Real Madrid.
Ajax star Frenkie de Jong spoke on Friday about the second leg of Champions League last 16 match against Real Madrid and said that Sergio Ramos may regret having forced a yellow card in the first leg in Amsterdam.
Possible yellow regret for Sergio
The Real Madrid captain went in hard on Kasper Dolberg in the 88th minute of the first leg, which gave the referee no choice but to book him. Los Blancos came away with a, perhaps fortunate, 1-2 victory but Ramos admitted that it was a planned move to ensure he started the quarter-final without any accumulated yellows.
An investigation followed, which resulted in UEFA's Disciplinary Committee punishing the defender with an extra game suspension, one for accumulation of cards and one for "clearly" creating the yellow in Amsterdam.
De Jong, speaking to the Dutch newspaper AD, suggested that the Madrid captain's decision may prove to be unwise, saying that "maybe Sergio Ramos will regret it" if Ajax qualify for the quarter-finals.
Ajax have positives to focus on
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The Dutch player, who has already signed to join Barça at the end of this season, acknowledged that "Real Madrid is obviously the favourite" to make it through having the lead, two away goals, and playing at home. But he also stated that his team "has not surrendered" and "still has possibilities" to turn the tie on its head.
The performance of the Eredivisie side in the first leg impressed many and will give them hope. Also in their favour is that the Dutch federation postponed the league match against PEC Zwolle this weekend so that their players had more rest and preparation time for their Bernabéu showdown. As they do that, Santiago Solari is navigating two Clásicos against Barcelona.