AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk praised opponents Hungary for their decision to play on in their Nations League clash on Saturday after assistant coach Adam Szalai appeared to have suffered a fit on the bench only minutes after kickoff.
There was a 13-minute medical delay as Szalai was treated pitch side before being taken to an Amsterdam hospital. The Hungarian federation said he was recovering.
He could be seen lying on the floor, next to the team’s bench, with his legs twitching and kicking uncontrollably as staff and substitutes quickly formed a protective barrier around him.
“That was quite a shock of course,” van Dijk told Dutch NOS television.
“You see someone lying down, you see someone shaking. That is quite scary. But thankfully at a certain point it became clear that he was stable.”
Van Dijk heard from Liverpool teammate Dominik Szoboszlai, who captained Hungary, that Szalai had suffered a similar incident previously.
“But yes, it is still very scary to see. I hope he is doing well and that he recovers quickly.”
Van Dijk said it must have been difficult for Hungary to continue playing. Szoboszlai gathered his teammates in a huddle on the pitch before they agreed to carry on with clash.
“They had to decide whether they wanted to continue playing. I think it shows a lot of strength that they did carry on. I have a lot of respect for that.”
The Netherlands went onto register a 4-0 victory and make sure of a place in next March’s Nations League quarter-finals.
But Van Dijk thought his side’s performance was “sloppy” overall.
“The pitch was very fast,” he explained. “But that’s no excuse. It was sloppy. In the end we won deservedly and that’s the most important thing. We go to the quarter-finals, we win, we keep a clean sheet.”
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town)
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