Budapest, Oct 12 (IANS) On the night when Virgil van Dijk was shown his first career red card for the Netherlands, the Dutch captain was ‘angry’ with the referee’s decision to give him the first of two yellow cards during the side’s 1-1 draw against Hungary at the Puskas Arena Park on Friday.
The first yellow card was shown to Van Dijk for protesting to the referee after Donyell Malen was brought down while he was surging towards the goal.
“(The red card) is a bummer, should not have happened. But I’m especially angry about the first. They say the captain is the only one who can talk to the referee. I walk up to him. Up tempo, but not in a nasty way, not at all. Very respectful. Because I felt it was a breakaway player, he did not go for the ball at all. If even the captain can not say anything … then it gets difficult,” Van Dijk told ESPN Netherlands.
Van Dijk was then shown the second yellow three minutes later in the 79th minute leaving the Dutch down to ten men while they were still trailing 0-1.
Hungary had opened the scoring in the 32nd minute of the game thanks to Roland Sollai’s volley. After Van Dijk’s sending off, it was Denzel Dumfries’ powerful header that rescued a point for the away side.
Head coach Ronald Koeman chimed in and backed his captain claiming his sending off was ‘frustrating.’
“That moment was frustrating. I don’t understand it. I think we agreed that a captain can protest to a referee. That foul (on Malen) was good for a red card. There was no intention at all to play the ball. That Virgil then takes that second card is not convenient. He knows that himself,” Koeman told Dutch outlet NOS.
–IANS
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