Friday, September 4, 2015

Robben blasts 'very stupid' Martins Indi after red card costs Netherlands

Netherlands captain Arjen Robben has slammed defender Bruno Martins Indi for being 'very stupid' and getting himself sent off in defeat to Iceland.

The Porto man saw red after lashing out at striker Kolbeinn Sighthorsson in the first half before Gylfi Sigurdsson's penalty saw the visitors run out 1-0 winners.

And Robben, who limped off with a groin injury moments before Martins Indi was given his marching orders, believes the 23-year-old let his team-mates down.

"As captain I will always stand by my players, but I can't say anything else then that this is very stupid," he told NOS.

"He really lets his team-mates down and I think that's a big shame."

Manager Danny Blind shared his skipper's thoughts on the incident, and chastised the player for not being more aware of the match situation.

"It went wrong with the red card of Martins Indi," he said. "We knew this was going to be a though match. They play with a lot of discipline and don't give away many chances. 

"We had some trouble with finding Robben, but after while we succeeded more and more.

"And then came the moment that we give it away ourselves. I really blame Martins Indi for that, you know what the stakes are. I haven't seen it, but I heard it was a deserved red card.

"It's part of football, that you control yourself. There was no reason to do that and we paid a big price for this."

The defeat leaves Netherlands third in Group A and six points adrift of an automatic qualifying berth for Euro 2016.

Bur Robben is confident his side can bounce back in their final three matches, starting with Sunday's clash with Turkey.

"The beautiful thing about football is that you always get another chance. This is a huge dissapointment, but we have to take our final chance."

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