'It's important' - Man United defender Matthijs de Ligt shows true colours after brutal criticism

Manchester United defender Matthijs de Ligt said he looked for positives after the international break, despite being substituted at half-time for the Netherlands against Germany.

De Ligt was heavily criticised by Dutch media during the break after making a mistake against Germany, which led to a goal and him being hooked from the game during half-time.

However, the 25-year-old quickly put that behind him when returning to action for United in the Premier League, as he opened the scoring in a 3-0 victory over Southampton on Saturday afternoon and was given the man of the match award for his excellent performance.

De Ligt scored with a brilliant header in the 35th minute and that provided United with the breakthrough they desperately needed after a spell of Southampton pressure.

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The centre-back was asked by TNT Sport whether he had a point to prove after the international break and he responded with an impressively measured answer, saying: "Not exactly a point to prove because obviously sometimes football doesn't go as well as you want.

"But you always have to look on the positive side. I was happy that I played one-and-a-half games because it was a long time for me since I'd played games. It's really important to get a rhythm."

On the performance against Southampton, De Ligt said: "It was really important. If you get three points from three games, it's not enough, so there was some pressure on this game and today I thought we played very well.

"Maybe in the beginning we had some trouble and big credit to Andre [Onana], who made a save from the penalty, and he changed the game actually for us and in the end, a clean