Published: 23:33, 10 Jul 2024Updated: 23:34, 10 Jul 2024
Ex-Netherlands star Pierre van Hooijdonk led a furious Dutch backlash towards referee Felix Zwayer after their defeat to England.
Van Hooijdonk called for Zwayer to be ‘blacklisted’ as the Three Lions dumped his nation out in the semi-finals.
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Van Dijk couldn’t stop England from scoring a late winner in the Euro 2024 semi-finalCredit: Getty
Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk was also left fuming with the official’s performance.
It was Holland who took the lead in the seventh minute at Borussia Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park through Xavi Simons’ expert strike from distance.
But shortly later, England were awarded a controversial penalty for Denzel Dumfries’ challenge on Harry Kane following a VAR review.
The Inter Milan defender was adjudged to have fouled Kane after the striker missed with an effort – allowing the England skipper to slot home his third goal of the tournament.
A cagey second-half followed before Ollie Watkins rifled home a 90th minute winner – moments after England were awarded a dubious free-kick on Marc Guehi.
And the dramatic winner also come just minutes after Ronald Koeman’s men should have been awarded a corner after John Stones headed behind – leading to Van Dijk being booked over his protests.
Speaking on Dutch TV channel NOS via Voetbal, ex-Nottingham Forest striker Van Hooijdonk delivered a rather harsh conclusion on German referee Zwayer.
He blasted: “They can thank Felix Zwayer. He really needs to be blacklisted.
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Dutch icon Van Hooijdonk ripped into German referee Zwayer following Holland’s defeat
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Zwayer’s decision to award England a penalty for this foul on Kane has caused outrageCredit: AFP
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Watkins fired England into the Euro 2024 final with a dramatic winner in DortmundCredit: Getty
“Terrible. Also in the second half. A duel with Cody Gakpo where he simply blew his whistle again, ten meters from the linesman.
“Those are moments that were crucial in this match.”
Finally, Van Hooijdonk pointed out Zwayer’s crucial call in the first half – which even had ex-England star Gary Neville labelled it as a ‘disgraceful decision’.
“We can talk about it at length, but if you’re going to award a penalty for this.
“Then you could end up with eight of them on the spot in the final. Really terrible.”
As for Van Dijk, he raged: “I don’t know what I should say, I don’t know if I should say something about this.
“I said it outside to our Dutch media, it says it all that the ref went in quite quickly after the game and we had no time to shake his hand.”
Before adding: “They keep changing so many things, small changes that could have big impacts.
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Van Dijk has been left fuming over the display of the German match officialCredit: AFP
“Let them [the referees] come here and explain themselves, like we [the players] have to do when we do something wrong. I think that might be something.”
Meanwhile Dumfries has apologised over his foul, as he stated: “I take all responsibility for the penalty moment. I didn’t do it on purpose. I just wanted to block the shot.”
Holland boss Ronald Koeman also slammed the Zwayer in his post-match press conference over his decision to award England the spot-kick.
He said: “This is not a penalty. His only intention was to block a shot.
“Harry Kane then shoots and their feet collide. Football is getting broken with these type of calls by VAR!”
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