Sparta Rotterdam lost 1-0 to city rivals Feyenoord in their Eredivisie opener on Sunday. In the final moments at Het Kasteel, Milan Zonneveld thought he had snatched an equaliser, only for it to be ruled out for his foul. The Sparta striker could not make sense of it and vented his frustration to ESPN’s camera.
Luciano Valente, Feyenoord’s captain, scored in the 35th minute and it proved to be the only goal of the game. Zonneveld had two efforts chalked off late on: the first for offside, the second for his push in the back of Jeremiah St. Juste.
“If you do not play from the start, you have to give absolutely everything as a substitute,” began Zonneveld, who saw Nökkvi Thórisson preferred up front. “I did that today, it is just a shame my goals do not count. That is the only thing that could have been better today.”
While offside is offside, referee Sander van der Eijk’s decision to blow straight away for his second disallowed goal drew far less understanding from Zonneveld. “I think it goes both ways. It happens throughout the whole match. Was this it?” he asked on seeing his push. “I think this is pretty poor, to be honest.”
Throughout the match, Zonneveld felt the same sort of contact had been allowed. “This happens throughout the whole match. The same thing happened with my first chance and he said he stroked me. I think it is strange,” said Zonneveld, who was not given the chance to strike up a proper conversation with Van der Eijk. “I went over to him and he immediately said I would get a yellow card if I said anything about it.”
As far as the North Hollander was concerned, the referee had already decided. “He had already made up his mind beforehand, so I do not think that would have made much difference,” said the North Hollander, who felt Sparta’s direct style could have hurt Feyenoord. “I do think that helped, definitely. We created some pretty big chances and, based on the closing stages, maybe deserved more.”
Still, Zonneveld is frustrated to have started on the bench. “I just want to play and everyone knows that, so in that sense I do find it difficult. I want to play as much as possible and do my best, show that I deserve to be out there. Then it will come naturally and I have to show that the manager can no longer ignore me,” the 22-year-old goalscorer concluded.