Defender sees room for Dutch development

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Netherlands defender Virgil van Dijk says his side’s 3-2 loss to Germany in Amsterdam on Sunday shows they still have plenty of room for improvement.

Joachim Low’s new-look German side opened up a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Leroy Sane and Serge Gnabry.

Second-half efforts from Ajax defender Matthijs de Ligt and Lyon’s Memphis Depay appeared to have rescued a point for the Dutch but Nico Schulz struck late on to secure a win for Germany.

Low has overhauled his Germany side since their World Cup 2018 and Nations League failures, and all three of their goal scorers on Sunday were not in his travelling party for the tournament in Russia.

The win also represented a revenge of sorts as the Netherlands helped relegated Germany from the top tier of the Nations League last year.

The Oranje have won praise in recent months after picking up some impressive results, but Liverpool defender Van Dijk says the loss to the Germans proves they are not the finished article just yet.

“We knew we have a long way to go and tonight proved that,” Van Dijk told NOS.

“We came back so well and then you should grab a point at least. Too bad it didn’t work out that way. We had difficulties in the first half.

“They had a lot of movement and we weren’t organised well. We improved a lot in the second half when Frenkie de Jong played more from midfield.” The Netherlands are 13.00 to win Euro 2020 outright and Germany are priced at 7.50.

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