Stefan de Vrij defends his final match for Lazio – “do you think I’d have waited until the last game if I wanted to help Inter?”
The Dutch international had already signed for the Nerazzurri when the two sides met in Week 38 of last season, which was effectively a play-off for the Champions League.
The centre-back started for the Aquile against his future side, and gave away a penalty in the match.
Stefan de Vrij defends his final match for Lazio – “do you think I’d have waited until the last game if I wanted to help Inter?”
The Dutch international had already signed for the Nerazzurri when the two sides met in Week 38 of last season, which was effectively a play-off for the Champions League.
The centre-back started for the Aquile against his future side, and gave away a penalty in the match.
“They knew me at Lazio and if they let me play, it means that they trusted me,” De Vrij pointed out, speaking to Corriere dello Sport.
“None of them said anything to me about the mistake I made that led to the penalty on [Mauro] Icardi.
“Unfortunately mistakes happen in football, especially in situations like that second half where were were playing very close to our own goal, and against a certain Icardi…
“That game wasn’t easy, I wanted to confirm my value in my last game for Lazio, but then there was that action…
“I was trying to intercept a ball that Eder had put into the box, then I saw Icardi, who hasn’t offside, and would have finished in two steps.
“So I tried to intercept it and I came really close to nicking the ball. If I’d touched it then everyone would have talked about a great interception, but then…
“I did my best for Lazio that night, as a real professional. Do you think I’d have waited until the last game if I wanted to help Inter? In the second-last game I cleared one off the line at Crotone…”
De Vrij was asked what his new club’s aims for the season are.
“Finish in the top four and confirm ourselves in the Champions League.
“The Scudetto? I’ve learned not to be conditioned and only think about what happens on the pitch. It’s better to take it one game at a time, or being the anti-Juventus will become an obsession.”
Juventus signed Cristiano Ronaldo this summer, a deal which many considered impossible.
“I confess, at first I didn’t believe he’d come to Italy,” De Vrij confirmed.
“But they kept saying it and then… His arrival in Serie A was important for Italian football, because it gives a boost to the whole movement.
“I’ve played against him for the national team, in a friendly against Portugal just before the 2014 World Cup.
“It finished 1-1 and he scored at the end, but it was from a corner.
“The best striker I’ve ever faced? Kylian Mbappé.”