Fans ‘throw TRAINERS’ onto the pitch during the Netherlands’ victory over Romania – as Donyell Malen’s narrowly avoids the shoes when scoring his side’s third goal
- The Netherlands defeated Romania 3-0 on Tuesday evening in the round of 16 of the 2024 European Championship
- Donyell Malen scored twice, but his second goal caused great confusion
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A bizarre incident occurred during the Netherlands’ 3-0 win over Romania in the round of 16 of Euro 2024. Fans reportedly threw a pair of trainers onto the pitch before Donyell Malen scored the Oranje’s third goal.
Ronald Koeman’s team reached the quarter-finals of the tournament thanks to two goals from the Borussia Dortmund star and one from Cody Gakpo, but it was Malen’s second strike that caused confusion.
As the attacker ran towards the Romanian goal, two coaches were seen in the penalty area.
Romanian keeper Florian Nita had to clear a coach, but Malen cut inside and shot past him, with the ball fortunately not hitting either of his shoes.
What happened initially is unclear, but the Romanian fans were behind the goal in the second half, so it looked like a frustrated fan had thrown them onto the pitch.
Fans allegedly threw coaches onto the pitch during the Netherlands’ 3-0 win over Romania
The boots were dangerously placed in the Romanian penalty area when Donyell Malen cut inside
Romanian goalkeeper Florian Nita (pictured above) was forced to kick a coach away when Malen fired a shot
Malen’s strike saw him find both Darius Oaru and Razvan Marin after a crushing run, before scoring convincingly to secure his team a quarter-final match against either Turkey or Austria.
Fans were left stunned by the bizarre situation, with one saying: ‘Romanian fan tried to stop him with his sneakers’, while another added: ‘That’s new.’
Another confused supporter said: ‘Okay but why were there trainers in the goal area on that Malen goal? Not boots, they were running shoes. Did anyone else see this, I need answers?????’
Other supporters joked about the situation, which was almost reminiscent of Darren Bent’s infamous goal for Sunderland against Liverpool in 2009.
On that occasion, the striker saw his shot deflected off a beach ball and into the Reds’ goal past the helpless Pepe Reina.
One said: ‘It was annoying that Malen didn’t see his shot blocked by one of those trainers lying around…’, while another joked: ‘Malen should have picked up the trainer on the field and congratulated him on the phone.’
Nita frustratingly kicked another shoe away, ending Romania’s Euro 2024 campaign
Fans were stunned by the situation surrounding the goal and others laughed at the incident
Meanwhile, Gary Lineker gave his opinion on the incident during BBC coverage of the match.
“I love how the goalie kicks one of the coaches away before he tries to save the ball,” he said. “Did you see that?!”
Ashley Williams replied: ‘Well, if he had kicked the ball away, maybe that would have been better…’
Linker then went on to joke about the incident even more, adding, “I didn’t know you could use that kind of product placement in these types of competitions.”