Willem van Hanegem has defended Sem Steijn after criticism of the way he celebrated at Camp Nou.De Krommecannot understand the fuss around the Feyenoord midfielder, as he writes in his column for theAlgemeen Dagblad.
Steijn scored Feyenoord's consolation goal against FC Barcelona in midweek, in a 5-1 defeat in the Champions League. He celebrated passionately after scoring and drew heavy criticism in the Netherlands. The player quickly hit back. "Those people should try scoring at Camp Nou themselves sometime," he told ESPN.
"If, as a Feyenoord player, you say that despite the 5-1 defeat at Camp Nou against Barcelona you are on the right track, it is quite nice if four days later you win a match 0-7. Then you are rid of the moaning for a while, although it is never far away," Van Hanegem writes in his column.
"Feyenoord were much better than PEC Zwolle and you do not win 0-7 every week. Then you are allowed to celebrate. Sem Steijn knows that celebrating is under a magnifying glass. People did not think that was allowed at 4-0 down in Spain, but of course that is entirely up to him," the 82-year-old former footballer believes.
"If you want to play and score and you score at Camp Nou, then you are allowed to do what you feel, and in this case that was celebrate. Mind your own business." De Kromme also has little time for the way matches are hyped up. "What I also find very remarkable about that is this: if number five play number eight, those channels already bill it as Super Sunday and all sorts of other things."
"They blow everything up, cup matches against amateurs are grandly announced weeks in advance, you really can imagine anything. And then Steijn celebrates after a goal at Camp Nou, something not many Feyenoord players will manage, and then he is supposed to sprint back to his own half without a smile," he concludes.