What They're Saying: Virgil van Dijk

• by Soccer America , Nov 20, 2018

“That man broke down, stood with tears in his eyes because he had just lost his mother. I wished him strength and said that he had refereed well. It’s a small thing, but maybe it helps him.”

-- Virgil van Dijk, one of the heroes of the Netherlands' 2-2 tie with Germany that sent the Dutch through to the UEFA Nations League semifinals, on consoling the game's Romanian referee, Ovidiu Hategan, after the game ended. Right before the match in Gelsenkirchen, the 38-year-old Hategan learned his mother had died. (TalkSport)