The draw against Heracles Almelo feels like a defeat for Orkun Kökçü. The Feyenoord midfielder opened the score in the second half, but saw Heracles come alongside from a questionable penalty kick. Referee Jeroen Manschot contacted Ismail Azzaoui and Eric Botteghin where and pointed to the spot. VAR Luca Cantineau supported the decision, but Kökçü has reservations.
“In the game I immediately thought: this is very light”, says the talented playmaker from Feyenoord at the press conference. “In the dressing room I heard that it was actually not a penalty in our experience. For the rest I can not really say anything about it. It is really sad that the penalty falls like this. When you see that Eric is so angry and goes through his plug. , which he normally never does, because he is a very sweet boy, then you know it was very light. “
Kökçü: ‘He is normally a very sweet boy, but he was really angry now’
Feyenoord must try to secure European football through the play-offs, because the fourth place is out of sight due to the loss of points. “We went into it with the idea that we had to win the last two games ourselves,” says Kökçü. “I think you saw that reflected in the experience and the commitment of us. But we have nothing to do with a 1-1 draw. We had to win twice ourselves so that after the games we could see how the other teams were doing, but because you tie here it’s already over. “
Dick Advocaat also noticed atypical anger at Botteghin. “Eric is normally a very calm boy. But he is really very angry,” said the trainer, who has no doubts that the penalty was unjustified. “I have now seen the moment three times. The Heracles boy really stumbles over his own legs. I thought Manschot was really good at whistling, but a referee should not make these kinds of crucial mistakes.”
Kalum van Oudheusden is a full-time video journalist, presenter and program maker at Voetbalzone and makes, among other things, exclusive interviews and various programs.