The fear was there immediately and turned out to be true less than 24 hours later. Maikel Kieftenbeld, one of FC Emmen’s most important acquisitions, suffered a serious knee injury in the opening game of the season against PSV. The midfielder tore his anterior cruciate ligament in an unfortunate duel with PSV substitute Savio. The season for ‘Kieft’ has already come to an end.
The action of Kieftenbeld, or actually Savio, was in the very last second of the game. The Brazilian, cold in the field, fell when passing an Emmenaar and in that fall he landed on Kieftenbeld’s leg. “He immediately heard something crack”, said Dick Lukkien shortly after the 4-1 lost game. “It doesn’t look good.”
The unlucky one, who also shot into his own goal in a very unfortunate way (the 2-0), was already subjected to an MRI scan this morning.
It is not the first time that Kieftenbeld has suffered injuries to his right knee. In April 2019, he also tore his anterior cruciate ligament of his right knee, at the time while playing for Birmingham City.