Damián van der Vaart furious with Ajax teammate Verkuijl; teammates have to calm him down

Damián van der Vaart caused a stir in the closing stages of Monday’s Keuken Kampioen Divisie clash between Vitesse and Jong Ajax. Tensions ran high during the Amsterdam side’s painful 6-1 defeat when the midfielder clashed with teammate Mark Verkuijl. Teammates eventually had to step in to defuse the situation.

The match at the GelreDome proved disastrous for Jong Ajax, who were outclassed by Vitesse from the outset. The home side made the most of the Amsterdam reserves’ shockingly weak defence and cruised to a comfortable victory. Thanks to this comfortable victory, the Arnhem side remain in contention for the title in the fourth period. Should they succeed, they will secure a place in the promotion play-offs.

The frustration among the Jong Ajax players became clearly apparent in the closing stages. Van der Vaart had only just come on when he made his presence felt in a negative way. He committed a heavy foul on Mathijs Marschalk. This led to irritation from Verkuijl, who corrected his teammate with a push and tried to calm him down.

Van der Vaart, however, was absolutely not having any of it. After a dismissive gesture and a brief protest towards referee Stan Teuben, he deliberately sought confrontation with Verkuijl. Visibly emotional and with a warning finger, he walked towards his teammate. A spectacular scuffle seemed inevitable, but it did not come to that: captain Avery Appiah and Ethan Butera reacted alertly and managed to keep the two combatants apart.

The incident underscored the frustration at Jong Ajax on an afternoon when little went right. The Amsterdam reserves are having a season to forget, to say the least. After 35 matches, they are bottom of the Keuken Kampioen Divisie. They trail nineteenth-placed Helmond Sport by three points.

For Verkuijl, the match against Vitesse marked his return to Jong Ajax following the tragic death of his girlfriend last December. The footballer’s 21-year-old girlfriend was hit by a car whilst out running in Ede and died in hospital from her injuries.

The driver of the car – a 54-year-old woman from Veenendaal – drove off after the accident but was later arrested by the police at her home that evening.