The Rise of Champions League Star Matthijs de Ligt – How His Brilliance Helped Bayern Munich Stay on Top
Matthijs de Ligt is quickly becoming a household name in the football world. The 20-year-old Dutch defender has been consistently impressing fans and pundits alike with his strong performances for both club and country. From Ajax to Juventus and now, Bayern Munich, De Ligt is making an impact on every team he plays for.
Recently, his long-range strike helped Bayern Munich secure a 1-0 win over Freiburg, keeping them two points clear at the top of the table with seven games remaining. De Ligt began his professional career at Ajax in 2016 and since then has developed into one of Europe’s most exciting defenders. He was part of the Ajax side that made it all the way to the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2018/19, only being knocked out by Tottenham Hotspur in heartbreaking fashion. De Ligt was named captain of Ajax in October 2018 and led them to their first Eredivisie title since 2014. His impressive performances earned him numerous awards including being named Dutch Footballer of the Year twice (2018/19). In July 2019, Juventus signed De Ligt for a reported fee of €75 million – making him the most expensive defender ever at that point. During his time at Juventus he played alongside some top class players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala – leading them to a Serie A title win during his debut season. However, despite having a decent season for Juventus, De Ligt failed to show off his full potential due to injuries which limited his game time significantly.
This summer saw De Ligt move onto German giants Bayern Munich where he joined fellow star arrivals such as Leroy Sane and Douglas Costa in Bavaria. Since joining Bayern, De Ligt has already made an impact with strong performances against Atletico Madrid away from home in the Champions League group stages and more recently against Freiburg on Saturday when his long range strike sealed victory for the club.
De Ligt’s move to Bayern represents a new challenge for him as he looks to cement himself as one of Europe’s best defenders once again. He has all the tools needed to be successful at this level – combining great physicality with superb technical ability combined with excellent anticipation skills which allows him to read play effectively from deep within defence; something that will come extremely handy when they face Manchester City in next week’s Champions League quarterfinal first leg match up. With so much riding on this match there is no doubt that wearing a Bayern Munich jersey will bring out even better performances from Matthijs de Ligt than we have seen so far this season – making it an unmissable match up!
