"I better not say anything because I want to play tomorrow"

INTERVIEWS At his press conference this afternoon, Jan Vertonghen was also asked a question about the fuss surrounding the captain's bands. Before answering, you could see him thinking for a moment. He also weighed his words afterwards. "


"That's a difficult question," said Vertonghen, who then took a moment to search for his words. "If you make a statement now by wearing that armband though, I feel we are punishing more ourselves."

"On the other hand, I'm already afraid to say things now. I don't feel comfortable talking about this at all. It actually says enough that I, or we, are put in the situation that I am afraid, so to speak, whether I will be allowed to play tomorrow if I say anything about this. That is a very unfortunate situation. I've never experienced that in soccer and I hope to never have to experience that again. Because that's not nice at all."

"We are controlled. I'm not one to make big political statements. But I say I'm afraid to say anything at all about it. We are here to play soccer. And if we couldn't do that by making a statement where we just say very normal things like 'no to racism' or 'no to discrimination,' then ... "

"But I better not say anything about it because I want to appear at kickoff tomorrow. So I'll just leave it at that. And that says enough, I think."