Van Dijk consoles grieving referee after late equaliser
VIRGIL VAN DIJK took time to console grieving referee Ovidiu Hategam after his l a s t-m i n u t e e q u a l i s e r ensured Holland joined England in the finals of the Nations League — at the expense of France.
The Liverpool defender said he had noticed the Romanian official, who took charge of the 2-2 draw in Gelsenkirchen last night, and approached him at full-time to ask how he was.
Van Dijk said that Hategam had informed him that he had recently lost his mother.
“He told me his mum recently passed away,” said Van Dijk. “He broke down and started crying. I consoled him and told him he refereed well. Its a small thing, but I hope it helped. I wished him strength and said that he had done well.”
Holland knew they would need only a point to pip France to qualification for next summer’s event in Portugal thanks to their superior head-to-head record against the world champions in their group.
It looked an impossible task when they trailed 2-0 with only three minutes of normal time remaining, after goals from Timo Werner and Leroy Sane had put Germany in control.
But Quincy Promes gave the Dutch a chance with a fine strike from the edge of the penalty area before Van Dijk — left unmarked inside the box —completed the comeback with a well-judged volley. Holland join England, Switzerland and hosts Portugal in the final four.
It has been quite a turnaround for Holland, who did not qualify either for Euro 2016 or last summer’s World Cup, but they have been revived by Ronald Koeman, who took over in February when Dick Advocaat quit after failing to secure qualification for the tournament in Russia.
Koeman said: “Germany are an excellent team, but we showed we can recover in games like these.”