The Netherlands beat Hungary 4-0 on Saturday in the Nations League. But it is of course what happened to Adam Szalai that left its mark.
The match was interrupted for around ten minutes, and Szalai received the necessary medical aid. A tent even had to be erected to hide the member of the Hungarian staff during the intervention of the medical services.
Finally, Adam Szalai was taken away on a stretcher to a shower of applause. Shortly before halftime, an update on his situation was given.
The Hungarian Football Federation then announced that he was doing well. Later that evening, Szalai himself shared a message on Instagram. As soon as he was stretchered out, it became clear that there was more fear than harm, and the Hungarian players decided to continue playing.
But not everyone seemed as impressed by the situation. Immediately after this event, Wout Weghorst gave the Netherlands the lead from the penalty spot… and celebrated his goal exuberantly, as if nothing had happened.
“When you score in these circumstances and you celebrate in this way, as if you had just scored the winning goal in the World Cup final… It makes me sick to my stomach,” Rafael van der Vaart told NOS. “A little more restraint would have been in order. It was really shameful to celebrate like that,” added Pierre van Hooijdonk in his turn.
