Ronald Koeman
Ronald Koeman
Ronald Koeman; born 21 March 1963) is a former Dutch footballer and the current manager of English club Everton. He is the younger brother of former Feyenoord coach Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. A composed player, Koeman was capable of being deployed both as a defender and as a midfielder, and he frequently played as a sweeper, due to his vision and his ability on the ball. One of the best attacking central defenders...
ProfessionSoccer Player
Date of Birth21 March 1963
CityZaandam, Netherlands
If someone states that Ajax played a negative game then maybe we are smarter than Manchester City.
We knew Manchester United were not in the best form at the moment and we came to attack and played very well,
We're disappointed with the result. The only positive thing is that after the two matches we have an advantage as we won 3-0 (in Amsterdam) and lost 2-1.
We won an important game but not a decisive one.
We were very nervous in the first half. We surrendered too much possession. We can still spring a surprise in Barcelona.
Losing three internationals in this match were the reason for our poor second half,
I think Barcelona showed in two games against us what they are made of. Of course they are capable of beating Milan.
I said before the match that I did not see them scoring three or four goals on the basis of their recent matches. And when you create three or four chances in the first 20 minutes and don't score, it is going to be a big mental problem.
We know we can surprise them, but we must also respect Barcelona and acknowledge that they have a great team. Nothing is impossible.
We know no fear. We know where we can hurt Barcelona and we're going to battle until the last minute to surprise them.
We did something people did not expect. It was a great job.
We were aggressive at the start and worked well, although we were lucky to score from our first opportunity. We kept our composure after they were reduced to ten men and were content to simply control the game. It was very important we won ahead of the Barcelona tie. We know they're a great team but we also know that we can surprise them. Anything is possible.
In the second half we controlled the game more and had a couple of chances to equalize.
In the second game we're going to do the same thing, fight until the last minute. Barcelona will have to attack and it will be a game more or less like this one.