Criticism of the tribute banner with cynically laughing Ajax fans: “The Ajax players stood there with fresh reluctance.”

Ahead of the match Ajax - PSV from last Saturday, the Ajax players formed a honorary line for league champions PSV. This had been indicated by coach Oscar Garcia at the press conference last Friday prior to the match.

This honorary arch didn’t sit well with everyone. ESPN analyst Marciano Vink said during the preview of the match in the Johan Cruijff Arena that he doesn’t see the point in it anywhere.

Former PSV goalkeeper Ronald Waterreus is also not much of a fan of the tribute line that Ajax formed for PSV. ''While the champions dribbled onto the pitch one by one, Steven Berghuis's toothpaste-advertising grin revealed that he would rather have been stuck somewhere in the traffic on the A10. Youri Baas, in turn, gave the impression that an itchy swarm of ants had taken up residence in his boxer shorts'', says Waterreus in a cynical tone in his column for Algemeen Dagblad.

According to the native Limburger, the Netherlands should not take over every football tradition from another country. ''The built-up ribbon of honour at the Johan Cruijff Arena was nonsense at its finest. The Ajax players were standing there with fresh reluctance, while those of PSV felt that the politeness had been put on'', continues the former goalkeeper.

Waterreus therefore also believes that there was no such thing as an honest gesture from the Amsterdam team toward the national champions. ''This is friendliness for the stage. After all, no athlete in the whole world wishes their rivals the title. Congratulate them in the catacombs, fine. But let’s please stop with this kind of theatrics,'' concludes the man from Limburg.