Willem van Hanegem is not surprised that Dennis Higler gave the team from Amsterdam a penalty in injury time in the Eredivisie match between Ajax and RKC Waalwijk. An unnecessary sliding by Luuk Wouters gave Ajax a penalty in the last minute, which was used by Dusan Tadic. “If I was a referee, I wouldn’t have given it. But at Higler you just know that these kinds of things lead to success,” says Van Hanegem.
“To be honest, I had already taken them into account, because Dennis Higler really likes to give them. But I had a very bad feeling at that penalty kick that Ajax just brought past RKC,” writes Van Hanegem in his column for the General Newspaper† “If you’ve played football yourself, you know exactly what happens there. Antony consciously steps into Luuk Wouters’ tackle, he no longer follows the logical path behind the ball. Then there is contact and then the ball hits the dot with Higler.”
Van Hanegem does acknowledge that the sliding of the RKC left back was unnecessary. “Provided that Wouters could of course have kept on his feet better, this is a typical case of consciously looking for a penalty,” says the columnist. “If I was a referee, I wouldn’t have given it. But at Higler, you just know that these kinds of things lead to success. I have said so many times that I think Antony is a great player, but he is very irritating. He actually gets away with everything himself. For example, I remember a blow to the head of Tyrell Malacia in the Classic, which the VAR thought was all right.”
“The fact that Bruno Martins Indi tackled him hard on behalf of AZ (0-2 loss in the TOTO KNVB Cup, ed.) last Thursday also had to do with Antony’s behavior earlier in the match,” continues Van Hanegem. “I am curious how that will go in the decisive weeks of the season. It could soon turn against Antony. The columnist is surprised about the party that was celebrated in the stands in the Johan Cruijff ArenA after the late 3-2 against RKC. “Even in Amsterdam they are not so sure anymore, I have the idea. Because what was there to celebrate when you give away a 2-0 lead against the small RKC.”