Barcelona’s 3-1 victory over Napoli on Saturday was a throwback to Barça’s more controlled days with Ivan Rakitić deputizing smartly for the suspended Sergio Busquets and Frenkie de Jong going from strength to strength in midfield.
Napoli couldn’t get close to the 23-year-old Dutch maestro, who hardly put a foot wrong while completing 94% of his passes in the attacking third and going three-for-three in take-ons. He also had a would-be assist contemptuously chalked off after the ball grazed Lionel Messi’s upper arm.
The canceled goal by Messi was laid down by De jong. Sumptuous pic.twitter.com/8mbb8x642m
— Sweta Bhandari. (@bsweta56) August 9, 2020
More importantly, De Jong accomplished all this in the midst of his own Michael Jordan “flu game” scenario. While he might not have been staggered, dehydrated and exhausted, De Jong was nursing an incredibly freaky bee sting.
The Ajax product wore a bandage during the match because christ, look at his damn hand.
Here he is today at Barcelona’s recovery session, still nursing his strong hand.
