De Jong aims high for this season compared to other FC Barcelona seasons
Frenkie De Jong talks about his squad capable of achieving big despite the struggle so far this season.
Frenkie De Jong has gotten to another milestone with FC Barcelona this season. After joining the club in 2019 for a transfer fee of 75 million euros from Ajax, the Dutch midfielder has gotten to 200 appearances for the Blaugrana. The player achieved this milestone after playing in the Copa del Rey Round of 16 game against Unionistas de Salamanca.
De Jong suffered an injury earlier in the season that made him miss two months with Barcelona. Nevertheless, the Dutch midfielder made 11 La Liga appearances and two in the Champions League. The player is proud to reach 200 games for Barca but insists of achieving something more important to him and the team, titles for the rest of the season. De Jong says, "I’m very proud to reach 200 appearances for Barça. It means a lot to me but I think winning trophies is more important than amassing games.”
He also talks about some highlights in his Barca career and some downsides during his time in Spain. He mentions that the 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich in 2020 was one of his worst moments wearing a Barca shirt and one of his best moments was winning La Liga last season.
De Jong aims for the Champions League this season and believes in winning all trophies despite their recent poor form
De Jong wants to his teammates to brush off their recent 4-2 loss to Real Madrid and focus on winning the three competitions they still compete in, including the Champions League. Barcelona will face Napoli in the Round of 16 of the Champions League and are 8 points below the top of the La Liga table. Barca are in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals and will play Athletic Bilbao.
De Jong says, “We know we have to improve but the quality is there. The football isn't bad either. But we're lacking decisiveness, concentration sometimes. We have to improve that, and focused all game. If we do all that, we have a very good squad to fight for every title”.
“Every team's goal is to win the Champions League, us too. That doesn't mean that if we don't win the Champions League it would be a disaster, but if you are in a competition, you are there to win it," says De Jong about the Champions League aspirations.
