As welcomes go, the one afforded to Steven Defour by Standard Liege this weekend is up there with hugs and kisses at a measles-ridden Disneyland.
The Belgian international spent five years at Liege, helping them to two league titles before transferring to Porto in 2011. After three seasons in Portugal, this summer he signed for Standard Liege's bitter rivals Anderlecht, and Sunday marked his first return to the Stade Maurice Dufrasne.
To say it didn’t go well would be, well, like saying Pol Pot was a bit of a shit.
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For starters, Liege's fervent fan base unfurled a massive banner depicting Defour’s severed head in the hands of a sword-wielding, Jason-themed lunatic. Then, after a good deal of choice Flemish insults from the home support, the midfielder rather lost the plot:
Which in turn, perhaps unsurprisingly, sent the travelling supporters apoplectic:
Down to 10 men, Anderlecht went on to lose 2-0.
The banner has been widely condemned by the Belgian FA and government, with the interior ministry stating that they were working with police to find its authors and impose stadium bans and fines. For the record, The18 would like to categorically state that targeting an opposing player with such a graphic and violently provocative banner before the start of a game is tasteless, morally repugnant and an affront to fair play.
And very effective.
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