Bommel and Basten are at it again!

It almost reads like a comic book: The Adventures of Bommel and Basten…

Some weeks ago I posted a transcript of Van Basten’s interview with Jack van Gelder in Studio Voetbal. Van Basten said he tried time and time again to explain to Van Bommel what he expected of the Bayern Munich star, but he failed to deliver.

Last week in Dutch magazine Voetbal International, Mark van Bommel struck back at the Dutch team manager: “Van Basten’s reasoning is off. I never said no to Oranje. I just don’t want to work with him and I refuse to play in a team coached by him. And I am sick and tired of hearing him say that he had many discussions with me about my tasks. It’s not true. The only talk we had was about that PSV match against AC Milan when I let Ambrosini slip past, who scored that late goal. I never ever discussed tactics with him with regards to the Dutch team or my role in that!”

The former PSV captain is angry. “He keeps on saying that he selects players on the basis of their skills, but that’s not true. If that’s the case, he should be selecting players from the top-teams in Europe. And he doesn’t. He should select players who play at their clubs and who have the form of the day. But he doesn’t. There are no football-specific reasons not to select me.”

Marco van Basten reacted as follows: “We all have our reality. The absolute truth does not exist. This is apparently Mark’s version of the truth. What can I say? We did talk to him on many occasions. During training-sessions, during tactical briefings, before international matches at the WC. In the group, and individually. But if he says we didn’t, then I don’t know anymore. I mean, I’d really like to work with Mark, he’s a good chap, but if he says things like this it will be very very hard for us in the future. That’s a shame.”

In the VI interview, Mark van Bommel also said he was being stuffed with tactical tasks that almost stifled him and made it hard for him to play his own game.

Marco van Basten: “And that’s exactly where he disagrees with himself. He first says that we never talked about his role, and then he says I gave him too many tasks. That’s pretty strange. How can I give him tasks to perform without talking to him? This interview shows that Van Bommel has a distorted reality. I won’t say anything more.”

Hugo Borst, influencial analyst and columnist (and friend of Van Basten) on the matter: “Listen, I know Marco 20 years now. We were good friends, but there is more distance between us now he is team manager. But one thing I can tell you, is that he is no liar. Why would he be? And I also know Mark van Bommel. He always had connections with press-members and he’d always leak information to the press to further his own agenda. He is a good player and I do feel we miss him in Oranje, but as a person he is a manipulator. I shouldn’t say this, but he is from Limburg and a Catholic… What more do you need to know about a person….”