RVP 'didn't expect' to break record

Robin van Persie admitted his surprise after becoming Netherlands' all-time greatest goal scorer with a hat-trick in Friday's 8-1 drubbing of Hungary.

GettyImagesVan Persie scored his 41st goal for Netherlands.

 

Van Persie broke Patrick Kluivert's record of 40 goals for the Oranje, taking his personal tally to 41 -- including 11 strikes during the current World Cup qualifying campaign.

But Van Persie, who conceded he was not fully fit heading into the match after sustaining a toe injury, revealed he wasn't expecting to take to the field for Louis van Gaal's side.


"I didn't expect to play actually. We took a small gamble," he told SBS6. "It went better the last days with my toe. This morning we decided that I would play an hour. I didn't expect that it would go like this."

Netherlands continued their undefeated streak heading into the penultimate match against Turkey on Tuesday and Van Persie praised the convincing performance of his teammates.

"In the first five minutes I lost two balls. I was not happy with that. But the team reacted well and we didn’t concede goals from it," he added. "After the first 10 minutes we showed really good football.

"The greatest moment of the night was my second goal. The pass from Arjen [Robben] was brilliant. It was a floater. I only had to give the last touch with my head. The first one was a bit with my shoulder.

"When I was a young boy, I was good with headers. After that I let it slip a bit. It wasn’t a weapon of mine. In the last couple of years I trained more with my head. That has worked for me. You can see that now."