Real Madrid centre-back Dean Huijsen was pretty impressive in Spain's win over Croatia during the international break on Tuesday night. He was one of Spain's better players and showed great synergy alongside Barcelona centre-back Pau Cubarsi in the heart of the defence.
Huijsen, who gained his first call-up to the international squad in quite some time, made sure to let his presence be felt by Luis De La Fuente. This was because of the manner in which he was playing last season and how he was not picked for the World Cup squad in the summer. Since then, it seems like Huijsen has had a healthy chip on his shoulder.
Even though he made a costly error against Atletico Madrid that basically lost Real Madrid the game, he has still had a really good season so far, and no one can take that away from him. In the nine games that he has played for club and country this season, Huijsen has had good performances in eight of them. The only game where he had a bad performance was the one against Atletico.
Even in that match, before the red card, Huijsen was actually playing quite well. He was one of the best players on the pitch for Real Madrid, and obviously the red card trumps all of that, but it is still a fact that needs to be considered.
Dean Huijsen bounced back from the Atletico Madrid red card in solid fashion
However, it is also good that he has bounced back from that loss with a crisp performance against Croatia. He played the full 90 minutes and had 104 touches off the ball, with 95% passing accuracy, 40 carries off the ball, three long balls, four recoveries, 2 clearances, as well as 1 big chance created. These are really good numbers for someone who hasn't played for Spain in quite some time and for someone who actually did not have the best of times when he last stepped on the pitch.
Hopefully, Huijsen is able to forget about the Atletico performance, take the work on the negatives, and be a good asset for Real Madrid in the remainder of the season once again. If he is able to remain consistent and not make mistakes, Huijsen can genuinely help Real Madrid in more ways than one, as he solves a lot of their issues from the centre-back position. Hopefully, that is the case.
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