Virgil van Dijk was seriously injured last Saturday at the hands of Everton keeper Jordan Pickford. The closing post came out wild and caused damage to the cruciate ligaments at the Orange captain, whose participation in the European Championship is at risk next year. Valentijn Driessen points in his column for The Telegraph accusing of the arbitration on the English fields.

Liverpool announced on Sunday that Van Dijk will not escape surgery. He is expected to be out of the way for months. “Justified dismay in the Netherlands, but also in England about the crazy action with which Virgil van Dijk was kicked out of the match at Everton-Liverpool by goalkeeper Jordan Pickford,” writes Driessen, who fears that Van Dijk will miss the European Championship. “While the 29-year-old defender wants to harvest with Orange at the European Championship. Extra painful for everything and everyone on Saturday was that referee Michael Oliver didn’t even give a yellow card for Pickford’s crazy tackle. ”

Driessen finds it incomprehensible that Pickford was not sent off the field. The VAR did not intervene, while just before time a goal from Liverpool was disallowed because Sadio Mané would have been centimeters offside. “They are supported by the VAR in their road-looking behavior in the Premier League,” continues Driessen. “In every game, including Saturday at the Merseyside derby, such a person is on his hands unless he can get a millimeter fuck in an offside case and then stops the game for five minutes.”

“Or he keeps himself together with the referee on duty Chris Kavanagh, seeing blind when Sergio Agüero grabs the female assistant referee Sian Massey in the scruff because he does not like her decision”, continues Driessen, referring to the Argentinian striker’s action during the game between Manchester City and Arsenal (1-0). “Apart from the inaudible behavior, it was shocking to see the disdain splashing off Agüero’s face. Like: ‘come here girl, you don’t understand it completely, but you were completely wrong’. A disgusting attitude that went unpunished in the Premier League. The largest football league in the world apparently does not feel the urge to set an example. ”