Valentijn Driessen hit out at Wout Weghorst in Kick-Off on De Telegraaf's podcast after hearing the FC Twente striker's remarks on Thursday following qualification for the Conference League league phase.
"I first want to thank someone and that is God. He has given me a lot of energy and strength. I just wanted to say that," Weghorst said after the 1-4 win over FK Qarabag in conversation with ESPN.
A day later, Driessen tore into those comments on the morning newspaper's podcast. "Wout Weghorst should not be coming out with this sort of nonsense. If he wants that, he should keep it to himself. Of course it makes absolutely no sense at all."
Mike Verweij took the opposite view. "That is nonsense, surely. If that is how he feels and what he thinks, and he feels the need to say that in front of a camera. We are surely happy precisely with players who actually say something for once?"
Driessen was having none of it. "I do not need to hear that story about God and the like at all. Because it is just complete nonsense. He had God on his side, because Weghorst rolled on and got that guy sent off. He commits the foul, and drives his knee into that lad's chest. And that lad gets a red card. That is also what God wants," said the cynical Driessen.
He then doubled down. "I am allowed not to agree with this, surely? I just think it is a ridiculous statement," the football editor repeats once again. "Dragging God into it every time. That is why I quite liked those comments: a four-year-old child with leukaemia, God did not have time for that."
To finish his argument about the Twente striker, Driessen said: "If Weghorst wants to get his drive from somewhere, fine. But I do not need to hear it. Especially when it is about God,"