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De Jong is more complete than when he was at Ajax, says Barca coach Koeman

Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman paid tribute to his compatriot Frenkie de Jong after the midfielder spared the Catalans' blushes in Wednesday's Copa del Rey tie with Rayo.

The Blaugrana appeared close to an embarrassing exit when they fell behind to the Segunda Division side with less than 30 minutes left on the clock.

But they eventually hit back with an equaliser courtesy of Lionel Messi, before De Jong struck 10 minutes from the end to clinch a 2-1 victory and progress to the quarter-final stage.

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Koeman knows perhaps better than most what De Jong is capable of, having handed him his Netherlands debut back in 2018 while he was still at Ajax.