Tears at De Kuip: Stepanov's Injury Shatters Dream Night

For Artem Stepanov, this was supposed to be another step in a fairytale start to life in the Eredivisie. Instead, he left De Kuip in tears, his international dream suddenly hanging by a thread.

Half an hour into Feyenoord v FC Utrecht, disaster struck. In a duel with Feyenoord defender Givairo Read, Stepanov twisted awkwardly. One look at his reaction told the story: this was bad.

The tall Utrecht striker sank to the turf, visibly distraught. Medical staff rushed on, tried to get him going again, but the pain – and the emotion – never left his face. Moments later, his night was over. Anthony Correia came on in his place, while Stepanov walked off in tears.

The timing could hardly be worse. While Utrecht have stumbled through a poor start to the season, Stepanov has been the one bright light. He scored in each of his first five league matches, a blistering run that matched Rafael van der Vaart’s 2001 milestone and instantly marked him out as one of the stories of the early campaign.

That form earned him a long-awaited call-up to the Ukraine national team. The Nations League group stage begins on Friday, with Hungary the first opponent, and Stepanov was on the brink of a senior debut after years of service in various youth teams.

Now everything is in doubt. The injury at De Kuip has thrown his plans – and perhaps Ukraine’s – into uncertainty. Utrecht’s in-form striker has yet to play a single minute for the senior side.

Whether he can recover in time to report for national duty is the next question.