Thijmen Blokzijl and Thom van Bergen. Photos: FC Groningen | edit DVHN
If you make your debut in the Eredivisie at the age of seventeen, it usually guarantees a glorious career. It happened Thijmen Blokzijl against Excelsior. The blond Groninger heard on Saturday during the last training that he was going to play. ,,It came as a surprise, but I was actually remarkably relaxed,” he says in the stadium of Excelsior with the number 42 shirt still around his shoulders. “My parents were very proud when I told them at home. In the end, of course, there was some healthy tension around the corner as the game got closer, but once the ball rolled, it didn’t bother me anymore.”