Mohamed Ihattaren has got tongues wagging on the internet. The midfielder scored the 0-1 for Fortuna Sittard against FC Groningen, but what he did next drew plenty of criticism.
Fortuna Sittard went ahead in Groningen inside the opening quarter of an hour. Lecquinio Zeefuik wrong-footed Thijmen Blokzijl with a feint in the penalty area, then pulled it back perfectly for Mohamed Ihattaren. The midfielder hit it first time and fired home.
Once the ball hit the net, Ihattaren did not run to Zeefuik, who had done ninety per cent of the work for the goal. Instead, he sprinted away on his own towards a television camera and then shouted something.
Viewers of the VriendenLoterij Eredivisie match laid into the former player of, among others, PSV and Juventus on X. "What an egoist that Ihattaren is. Surely you go straight to Zeefuik to thank him for the wonderful assist? No, sir goes straight to the camera."
Another wrote: "Zeefuik does the work, Ihattaren finishes it off simply, but instead of thanking and congratulating Zeefuik, Ihattaren would rather walk towards the camera to mutter something about himself,"
A third post read: "Ihattaren is gifted a goal by Zeefuik but demands all the attention for himself. That is what is wrong with that boy,"
One more user wrote: "Zeefuik produces an action like that and then Ihattaren goes and tries to claim some of the credit at the camera. Very bizarre,"
Fortuna could not hold their lead for long, though. After a magnificent kick from Etienne Vaessen, Thom van Bergen rolled his opponent and played it on to Jorg Schreuders, who then found David van der Werff: 1-1.
Soon after that, however, the Limburg side were back in front. This time Zeefuik got the goal himself. He was played in behind the Groningen defence and beautifully lifted the ball over Vaessen.