Liverpool’s Gini Wijnaldum was involved in a heated exchange at the end of the Netherlands national team’s press conference today, according to a report.
Dutch outlet Voetbal International claim that the Reds midfielder – currently captaining his country due to the absence through injury of club colleague Virgil van Dijk – took issue with a line of inquiry from one reporter and returned to the matter after questions to himself and coach Frank de Boer had finished.
De Boer and Wijnaldum had previously discussed the Netherlands team’s stance on participating in next year’s World Cup finals in Qatar despite issues of human rights violations.
Wijnaldum had said: “It's a big topic. We all believe we should get there if we qualify. Then we can have a greater impact on change.
“If we make a plan with other countries to pay attention to it, then that is better. Now it is still difficult to say how we should do that.
"We have yet to qualify. As the World Cup gets closer, that will become clearer.”
However, when the press conference ended, Wijnaldum is reported to have addressed a journalist who asked an earlier question and said: “May I say something else?
“I've been thinking about the question you asked about racism and Qatar. Do you really understand what you are doing?
“To compare the racism story with Qatar. You're basically saying that if someone is racist towards a brown person, then you shouldn't stand up for yourself. Because you are going to play football in Qatar… [t]hat is very wrong.
“Now you are actually saying that if you are treated racially, you are not allowed to stand up for yourself."
He added: “It cannot be compared. I've been thinking about it and I think it's weird.
“I actually think you say that if that happens and you do it then you should do it here too. The racism story is very difficult.”
The report adds that when the questioner indicated that he certainly did not want to compare the situations, Wijnaldum concluded. “You quote it like that and in my opinion that is not good.”
Voetbal International's article suggests that Wijnaldum had been asked what "actions" he would take over the situation in Qatar - and it appears the line of questioning referred back to the stance he had previously outlined over racist abuse, when he said he would not hesitate to "walk off the pitch".
The piece reads: "Because Wijnaldum was previously one of the most outspoken football players worldwide in the racism issue, he was asked during the press conference what concrete actions he could take in view of the situation in Qatar.
"After all, in the racism issue, he had announced that he wanted to leave the field with the team if it came to that."
