Former Lazio defender Mauricio calls Inter’s Stefan de Vrij “a monster” but “he also has excellent technique”.
The Brazilian is currently playing in Malaysia, but he played alongside De Vrij for the Biancocelesti.
“We had a good understanding,” Mauricio recalled, speaking to ESPN.
“We took Lazio into the Champions League after six seasons, finishing ahead of Napoli who were our big rival that year.
Former Lazio defender Mauricio calls Inter’s Stefan de Vrij “a monster” but “he also has excellent technique”.
The Brazilian is currently playing in Malaysia, but he played alongside De Vrij for the Biancocelesti.
“We had a good understanding,” Mauricio recalled, speaking to ESPN.
“We took Lazio into the Champions League after six seasons, finishing ahead of Napoli who were our big rival that year.
“Stefan is a great defender and deserves to be at a big club. He’s very tall, he’s strong and fast, he runs a lot – he’s a monster!
“He also has excellent technique and knows how to play the ball like few others, and that’s the difference between him and other players.
“He’s a calm defender who never gets agitated.
“We have had a lot of good matches together, but a special one was against Napoli, where we needed to win at the San Paolo to win the place in the Champions League.
“We went ahead 2-0 but then they pulled it back to 2-2 and had the chance to go ahead with a penalty, but [Gonzalo] Higuain missed.
“After that De Vrij cleared a ball off the line which would have meant the end of Lazio’s dream. Then we went 3-2 up and we won 4-2, it was a great game.
“Before that match he already had a great relationship wth the fans and the players, but after that he became an idol.
“He is a great person and a great friend, outside the pitch we were always together and that helped in our relationship too.
“I always told him he trained too much, he was always an hour early for training and he worked so hard. That’s a characteristic of Dutch players, who are always loyal and dedicated to work.
“He’s a serious lad, he didn’t like to laugh a lot and that intimidated the opponents too.
“He really liked Brazil when he came to play at the World Cup, he said he liked food a lot, he found it delicious.
“He also said Brazilian women were beautiful. We were always together, us and Felipe Anderson.”