Former Dutch midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has taken to punditry since he retired from the game. The ex-Spurs player is outspoken, to say the least. He has developed a reputation for offering brutal remarks, and the credentials of the player in question remain irrelevant to him.
He famously called out Lionel Messi on his recent performances for PSG, citing that the 7-time Ballon d’Or winner should be “ashamed” by his displays for the Parisiens.
Van Der Vaart was on punditry duties during Ziggo Sport’s coverage of the last night’s UCL fixture and he was certainly in full form.
The first recipient was a usual suspect in Timo Werner.
Van Der Vaart has already asserted his dislike of Werner when he stated that “all he does is run” and additionally compared him to a “blind horse”.
While the former Los Blancos player couldn’t have had too much to be critical about considering Werner’s impressive display against Zenit, he was quick to nullify any comparisons to former Netherlands teammate Robin van Persie.
On the coverage, Werner’s second goal sparked comparisons to Van Persie but Van Der Vaart quickly overruled them saying “If you compare Werner with Van Persie one more time, I will walk away now”.
Van Der Vaart wasn’t done yet, he gave us another highlight during the blockbuster tie between Barcelona and Bayern.
This time his comments were aimed at Goalkeeper Marc Andre Ter Stegen, particularly he spoke on the second goal Barca conceded. It was a long-range effort from Leroy Sane and evidently, the German goalkeeper could’ve done a bit better to keep it out.
Van Der Vaart said, “A goalkeeper that decides not to use his hands”. Further adding, “It looks like whenever Ter Stegen has to face Manuel Neuer, he’s getting nervous”.