Davy Klaassen of Ajax suffered a head injury after he was hit by an object thrown from the stands.
The Dutch Cup semi-final at Feyenoord had a lengthy delay as Ajax defeated bitter rivals Feyenoord in Rotterdam on Wednesday, April 5 to book a place in the Dutch Cup final.
The semi-final match had started five minutes late due to smoke from fireworks lit by Feyenoord fans.
The match was stopped 21 seconds after kick-off to allow the heavy black smoke clear off.
Dusan Tadic gave Ajax the opening goal in the 14th minute before Santiago Gimenez leveled for the host club in the 47th minute of added time with Alireza Jahanbakhsh assisting the goal.
Klaassen’s goal in the 51st minute was enough to set up a final against PSV Eindhoven.
Davy Klaassen was celebrating by the corner flag after he put Ajax 2-1 up in the second half.
A confrontation between rival players near the corner flag sparked a riot, during which the former Everton midfielder was hit on the head, by what appears to be a cigarette lighter.
The referee took Ajax players down the tunnel, followed by Feyenoord players whose assistant coach John de Wolf later came out to calm the home supporters before the match continued.
John used a public address system to implore the Feyenoord fans to “use their common sense”.
The match resumed after it was halted for about 30 minutes and Klaassen had to be substituted shortly, signaling that he was feeling dizzy.
Klaassen told Ajax website after the match that the pain from the head injury is causing dizziness and he’s lost focus.
He said he could have endured and remained on the pitch until the final whistle but that could worsen his health and his unfit state won’t help his winning team against the tough rival.
Davy Klaassen said: “I had a throbbing feeling around the wound and I also had trouble focussing, so I could have stayed on the pitch but that was not going to help me nor the team.”
“It was hard… you don’t want to let it get to you but sometimes you have to put your pride aside and do what’s best for the team.”
Following the incident, Police said a 32-year-old man had been arrested and an investigation is ongoing.
Despite the incident and an injury-time red card for Ajax team-mate Kenneth Taylor, the match ended 2-1 in favour of the visiting club, Ajax.
What’s next for Ajax?
Ajax will play the Dutch Cup final against PSV Eindhoven on 30 April but before then they will play Fortuna Sittard on the 9th of April and FC Emmen on April 16.
