Virgil van Dijk fumes ‘it says a lot’ after spotting controversial ref’s antics at full time after TWO major decisions
VIRGIL VAN DIJK raged at controversial referee Felix Zwayer after decisions went against the Netherlands in their Euros semi-final defeat to England.
Gareth Southgate’s men were handed a first-half penalty after Denzel Dumfries was judged to have fouled Harry Kane following a VAR review.
Kane scored the penalty to level things at 1-1, before another contentious moment occurred in the lead-up to England‘s stoppage-time winner.
Holland should have been awarded a late corner but instead a goal kick was given.
Seconds later the ball was up the other end and Ollie Watkins lashed home to send England into the final.
In the aftermath, Dutch forward Xavi Simons was booked for remonstrating with Zwayer – who was involved in a match-fixing scandal in 2005.
And Van Dijk took aim at Zwayer’s conduct during his post-match interview as he claimed his players were given “no time to shake his hand”.
Speaking on beIN Sports, he said: “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.
“It is what it is, the game is done, it’s very tough to take.
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“Certain moments it’s obvious that it [decisions] should’ve gone our way, it didn’t. I don’t know what to say, it’s difficult to accept this.
“It’s been a very long year, a tough year. We had a big dream and we felt like we could’ve achieved it as a team, unfortunately, it didn’t happen.”
Former England defender Gary Neville slammed the penalty decision, labelling it a “disgrace”.
And Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman had a similar view as he cut a frustrated figure after the game.
He said: “What do you do as a defender? This is not a penalty.
“Dumfries wanted to block the ball. Then the shoes collide. Such VAR decisions destroy football.”