Van Persie: Son's injury is 'heartbreaking'

Feyenoord coach Robin van Persie has said watching his son, Shaqueel, get carried off injured in their game against Real Betis on Thursday was "heartbreaking."

Feyenoord lost 2-1 in Seville and missed out on a place in the UEFA Europa League playoffs, finishing 29th in the table with two wins and six defeats in their eight league games.

The defeat was made worse by Shaqueel's injury.

The 19-year-old suffered a serious knee injury and had to be carried off on a stretcher.

"That's heartbreaking. So much pain... The first signs don't look good. That's heartbreaking as a coach, and in this particular case, as a father," Robin van Persie told a post-match news conference.

"It's not looking good. Tests have to point out how he's doing, but the first signs are not looking good.

"You hold your heart when any player goes down with an injury. It happened to be Shaqueel today, that's just how it is. You hope for the best, but when you hear the first signs that it isn't, it's heartbreaking."

The former Arsenal and Manchester United forward was seen comforting his son as he was helped on to the stretcher and taken off the field.

"I'm a coach, but I'm also his father, and I find this terrible. It's a bit of both. It's heartbreaking that he's going through this," Van Persie added.

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"I put my arm around his shoulder; that's all you can do at that moment, as a coach and as a father in this case."

After spending time in Manchester City's academy as a child, Shaqueel moved to the Netherlands and made his Feyenoord debut in November under his father.

He scored his first goals for the first team earlier this month against Sparta Rotterdam.