Sem Steijn receives support after much-discussed action at Camp Nou: 'Don't get involved'

Willem van Hanegem has leapt to Sem Steijn's defence after criticism of the way he celebrated at Camp Nou. De Kromme cannot understand the fuss around the Feyenoord midfielder, he writes in his column for the Algemeen Dagblad.

Steijn scored Feyenoord's consolation goal against FC Barcelona in midweek, in a 5-1 Champions League defeat. He celebrated wildly after scoring and drew plenty of criticism in the Netherlands. The player himself quickly hit back. "Those people should go and score at Camp Nou themselves sometime," he told ESPN.

"If, as a Feyenoord player, you say that despite the 5-1 defeat at Camp Nou against Barcelona you are on the right track, it is pretty nice if you then win a match 0-7 four days later. Then you are rid of the moaning for a while, although it is never far away," Van Hanegem writes in his column.

"Feyenoord were much better than PEC Zwolle and you do not win 0-7 every week. Then you are allowed to celebrate. Sem Steijn knows that celebrating is under a magnifying glass. People did not think that was acceptable at 4-0 down in Spain, but of course that is entirely up to him," says the 82-year-old former footballer.

"If you really want to play and score, and you score at Camp Nou, then you are allowed to do what you feel and in this case that was celebrate. Keep out of it." De Kromme also has little time for the hype around certain matches. "What I also find very remarkable about that is: if number five play number eight, those channels already announce it as Super Sunday and goodness knows what else."

"They blow everything up, cup matches against amateurs are grandly announced weeks in advance, you really can imagine anything. And then Steijn celebrates after a goal at Camp Nou, something not many Feyenoord players will manage, and then he is supposed to sprint back to his own half without a smile," he concludes.