- Ian Maatsen was called up for the European Championship at very short notice
- However, the versatile defender failed to get on the field in Germany
- Listen to It’s all about to begin! EUROS DAILY: England’s penalty was a ‘disgraceful decision’ but the Three Lions eventually showed up
Ian Maatsen responded immediately to Ronald Koeman’s call-up when he was included in the Dutch European Championship selection at the last minute.
But despite cancelling a few days off with his partner on a glittering yacht, the former Chelsea star failed to gain a single minute in Germany.
Maatsen was initially left out of the squad, but only heard about his absence three days before his participation in the Champions League final with Borussia Dortmund.
To cope with the bad news, the then Chelsea defender flew to Mykonos with his girlfriend Emely Tuinder, where they spent time on a yacht worth more than £500,000.
However, his brief appearance in the top 30 was abruptly ended when Teun Koopmeiners was injured and left Koeman’s squad. The Dutch coach called on Maatsen as a replacement.
Ian Maatsen was enjoying his holiday on Mykonos when the phone rang for an international duty
The 22-year-old spent time on the £500,000 yacht with his girlfriend, Emely Tuinder
However, the Aston Villa defender was not used by Ronald Koeman in Germany and is yet to make his debut
However, it was not exactly the call-up the 22-year-old was hoping for as he was left on the bench for every match of the competition.
Maatsen has yet to make an international debut, after playing at various youth levels.
After leaving Chelsea on loan for Borussia Dortmund in January, Maatsen now joins Aston Villa from Stamford Bridge. He will join Unai Emery’s team after his return from the tournament.
In addition to the loss of Koopmeiners, Koeman’s midfield also suffered a blow when Frenkie de Jong was forced to withdraw after failing to recover from an ankle injury.
The Dutch team reached the semi-finals in Germany, perhaps against expectations.
After finishing third in Group D behind Austria and France, they defeated Romania 3–0 and Turkey 2–1 in the round of 16 and quarter-finals respectively.
England proved too tough a test, however, as the Three Lions won 2-1 after Ollie Watkins scored the winning goal in the 91st minute on Wednesday evening to eliminate the Netherlands.
However, the Dutch media were quick to criticize the outcome with former national team player Rafael van der Vaart going wild on Gareth Southgate‘s side.
There was a lot of anger in the Dutch media about the English penalty in the first half
Maatsen and the Netherlands may have defied expectations by reaching the last four, but fell at the last minute
“What a shit team they are,” he said on NOS. “Slowly they didn’t want anything anymore.”
“They have such top players on the pitch. We didn’t do much either. We had a few chances. There could have been so much more.”
Elsewhere, there was understandable outrage over England’s first-half penalty, when Denzel Dumfries was judged by VAR to have fouled Kane.
VI led the angry reaction when they pointed to a possible handball by Bukayo Saka in the run-up to the penalty. They also highlighted how ‘the international press was unanimous about the penalty moment with Dumfries’, while AD reported the ‘surprise in England’ about the decision, while others called it a ‘disgrace’.