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4 months ago
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Ian Maatsen was quick to answer the call from Ronald Koeman when he was drafted into the Netherlands European Championship squad at the last minute.
However, despite cancelling some much needed time off with his partner on a glamourous looking yacht, the former Chelsea star failed to win a single minute of action in Germany.
Maatsen had initially been left out of the squad, learning of his omission just three days ahead of his participation in the Champions League final with Borussia Dortmund.
In an effort to get past the bad news, the then-Chelsea full back jetted off to Mykonos with his girlfriend, Emely Tuinder, spending time relaxing on a Yacht worth over £500,000.
However, his brief stint in the sun was cut short when Teun Koopmeiners was forced out of Koeman's squad through injury, with the Dutch coach turning to Maatsen to replace him.
Ian Maatsen's was enjoying his holiday in Mykonos when the phone rang for international duty
The 22-year-old was spending time on the £500,000 yacht with his girlfriend, Emely Tuinder
However the Aston Villa defender went unused by Ronald Koeman in Germany and is still yet to make his debut
Yet it wasn't exactly the call-up that the 22-year-old will have been hoping for after he was left on the bench in every game of the competition.
Maatsen is yet to be handed his international debut after playing a multitude of games at numerous youth levels.
After departing Chelsea on loan in January for Borussia Dortmund, Maatsen has now joined Aston Villa from Stamford Bridge and will link up with Unai Emery's side after he returns from the tournament.
As well as losing Koopmeiners, Koeman's midfield took another blow when Frenkie de Jong was forced to pull out after failing to recover from an ankle problem.
The Dutch side made it all the way to the semi-finals perhaps against expectation in Germany.
After finishing third in Group D behind Austria and France, they saw off Romania with a 3-0 win and Turkey 2-1, in the Round of 16 and quarter-finals respectively.
However, England proved too stern a test, the Three Lions coming out 2-1 winners after Ollie Watkins' 91st-minute winner on Wednesday night knocked out the Netherlands.
The Dutch media though were quick to criticise the result with former national team star Rafael van der Vaart letting rip at Gareth Southgate's side.
Across the Dutch media, there was significant anger about England's first half penalty
Maatsen and Netherlands perhaps defied expectation by making the last-four but fell at the last hurdle
'What a s*** team they are', he fumed to Dutch broadcaster NOS. 'Slowly, they didn't want to do anything anymore.
'They have such top players on the field. We didn't do much either. We had a few chances. There could have been so much more in it.'
Elsewhere, there was understandable outrage about England's first half penalty when Denzel Dumfries was adjudged to have fouled Kane following a VAR review.
VI led the furious reaction as they pointed to a potential handball by Bukayo Saka in the run-up to the spot kick, and highlighted how the 'international press were unanimous about the penalty moment with Dumfries', while AD carried the 'surprise in England' about the decision, with others pointing to it being a 'disgrace'.
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