Dutch coach Koeman full of praise for star midfielder Frenkie de Jong

Dutch coach Koeman full of praise for star midfielder Frenkie de Jong

 Los mejores momentos del holandés del Barça en el duelo ante Inglaterra / | @Frenkiestats

Koeman purred about De Jong's man of the match showing against England

Ronaldo Koeman was beaming after Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong was named man of the match as the Netherlands beat England to make the UEFA Nations League final. 

"Of course he was the man of the match, it was well deserved," Koeman said. "Most of the people are always looking at what he does with the ball, how calm he is, but look how well he defend and how many balls he is winning in midfield -- it's fantastic to see Frenkie play like this.

"It looks so easy but it isn't, it was really well deserved tonight."

The Netherlands came from 1-0 down at the break to win 3-1 after extra time but former Barça midfielder Koeman said it wasn't down to a half-time intervention. 

"I didn't say anything," he added. "Everyone knew they'd been poor and when they went out for the second half they corrected that. We haven't been in semifinals or finals recently, so this helps. It also helped that some of the players had gone far, some even winning, in the Champions League."

The Netherlands meet Portugal in the inaugural final of the competition on Sunday. England play Switzerland in the third-place playoff.