Thomas Beelen suffered a nasty injury on Saturday in Feyenoord’s practice match against KAA Gent. The defender had to be carried off the field on a stretcher. The Rotterdam team lost 1-2 after 120 minutes.
Beelen was hit hard in a challenge by KAA Gent attacker Hélio Varela after a little over half an hour and screamed out in pain. He was treated for minutes and then carried off the field on a stretcher.
The match was stopped due to Beelen’s injury. The players went to the locker room, but after a break of about twenty minutes, the match continued. At that moment the score was 1-1. Sem Steijn had scored the goal for Feyenoord. KAA Gent won 1-2 with a late goal.
It is not yet clear how serious Beelen’s injury is. coach Robin Van Persie said afterwards at Feyenoord ONE. “I don’t care about the match, everyone’s thoughts are with Beelen. It goes without saying that it doesn’t look good.”
During the break, Van Persie asked his players if they wanted to continue playing. “We had a discussion and decided to continue anyway. That was their choice. I would have been fine with stopping too. It is logical that this has an impact on everyone. This is the last thing you want to wish on anyone.”
Van Persie does not blame Varela
Not only the Feyenoord players were upset. KAA Gent attacker Hélio Varela, who collided with Beelen, was also moved to tears. “I went to see him,” says Van Persie. “I don’t blame him, I told him that too. It’s unfortunate and very annoying, but he didn’t intend to hurt anyone.”
With Beelen’s absence, trainer Van Persie will have even more trouble in the defense. He can’t call on Dávid Hancko either. He is in the process of completing his transfer to Saudi Al Nassr.
In addition, Feyenoord will not be able to use attacker Igor Paixão in the coming weeks. Anis Hadj Moussa is also absent in the practice match against Gent, but that is as a precaution. He trained individually earlier in the day.
Feyenoord will play the first match in the third qualifying round of the Champions League on August 5 or 6. The return is on August 12. The opponent will be announced on Monday at 12:00 PM during the draw in Nyon.
