“Win the duel. Fuck how you do it.” This is how a football match sounds from the inside

You could read about Anderlecht’s match with Antwerp in the Belgian Championship in the chic Pro League blog by Artem Prozhoga, but there was something very interesting in it, thanks to which, even with the final 0:0, we are now talking about this game.

Jan Vertonghen, one of the most recognizable heroes of the championship, conducted it with a microphone.

Here’s a video – the defender uses a mix of languages, but there are English subtitles to make it all clear. Below we highlight the most striking fragments.

Everything that is in quotation marks and without additional explanations is the words of Vertonghen.

“Ready, buddy? Warrior!”, – First of all, before the start, a greeting for Toby Alderweireld, he is now at Antwerp.

“Guys, feel the atmosphere. This is what we’re here for. This is what we became football players for. Win your first duel – I don’t give a fuck how you do it. Let them feel that you are here. Let’s win this game. Let’s go!” – a speech in a tight circle of partners before the start.

Yang actively managed the partners (most often prompted the 19-year-old CZ Zeno Debast) and talked to the referee – for example, politely asked if the VAR was watching one of the moments that looked like a violation. And after an affirmative answer, he clapped the referee on the shoulder.

“Hey, he’ll run out from under you”, – it’s funny that we are talking about Girano Kerk, who was just in Lokomotiv, and now an accomplice of such a show. Vertonghen, on standards, generally placed partners almost manually.

“Oh, fuck it,” is succinctly and clearly that something did not work out. This is a strong blow from Vertonghen from the left blocked by the defender.

“Benny, get out of here,” Benito Raman heard as a small fight broke out. It seems to have helped to calm down, but ten minutes later Beni received a second yellow card and left for good.

“Everything is fine.I win the top but you gotta take the rebound”, – Vertonghen also has such a genre, a promise combined with an agreement on how to proceed.

In pauses, Jan managed to wink at someone in the stands.

After the game, Jan looked upset.

But he thanked both Debast and Alderweireld, an ex-partner in Ajax and Tottenham, for the game.

How do you like the format? Would you like to see this more often in professional football?