The incident occurred during a match on Thursday
A footballer has been widely criticised for a gesture he made during a Europa League fixture on Thursday.
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Dutch outfit Go Ahead Eagles faced up against Stuttgart as part of the Europa League league phase on Thursday, and the Bundesliga side came out as 4-0 winners after the 90 minutes.
Despite Stuttgart’s stunning display on the pitch, the end result was ultimately overshadowed by an off-the-ball incident in the 74th minute, as one of Go Ahead Eagles’ players appeared to make an unsavoury gesture towards Angelo Stiller.
Per Dutch outlet, Voetball International, cameras recording the picked up Go Ahead Eagles’ Swedish attacker Victor Edvardsen mocking Stiller’s nose.
The gesture towards Stiller — who was born with a cleft lip — led to a major altercation between both sets of players.
Scenes of the incident were replayed immediately after full-time, prompting a response from Dutch football legend Wesley Sneijder.
Sneijder called on Edvardsen to “go to the locker room and apologise,” before adding “this is a serious matter.”
He added: “I think it’s sad. These kinds of gestures are very wrong.”
Edvardsen has responded to the criticism already, when interviewed by VI after the game.
He said: “I wanted to inject some extra energy into our team. Adrenaline got the better of me.
“I play with a lot of emotion. I haven’t apologised yet, and I don’t know if I will. If I see him again, I could apologise.
“But emotion is part of football. It’s easy to say sorry, but he also said things you don’t know about. He could also apologise to me.”
After watching the interview, Sneijder doubled down on his comments.
The former Inter Milan star said: “He wants to keep playing that tough guy. You’re a role model for kids. This is just bullying. I think this is terrible.
“As a club, you should grab that kid by the ear and take him to the Stuttgart dressing room. As a player, you’re setting an example. Children see this, and they shouldn’t start to accept it as normal.”
