Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola praised winner Justin Kluivert after watching him beat his famous father in a stunning 4-1 Premier League win at Newcastle.
The 25-year-old midfielder, son of former Ajax and Barcelona striker Patrick, scored a hat-trick as the Cherries ended the Magpies’ nine-game winning run in emphatic style.
In the process, he tripled his father’s Premier League goals at St James’ Park during his only season at Newcastle.
Iraola said with a smile: “I didn’t know the statistic. I played against his father, he scored against me. He was a hell of a player, a top player and he takes advantage of that advantage.
“Patrick was his coach, so he has that advantage. For sure, he gives very good advice and he has this offensive power, the threat.
“But I think he has improved over the last two seasons in his defensive work, his understanding of our game and we are very happy with him.”
Kluivert put the visitors ahead in the sixth minute and, after Bruno Guimaraes equalized, restored the advantage before half-time.
Eddie Howe’s men were a shadow of the team that had faced and beaten every opponent in recent weeks. The Cherries’ aggressive approach, combined with their pace and invention, saw them run away with the game in stoppage time as Kluivert scored for a third goal. time before defender Milos Kerkez cemented the victory.
Iraola said: “My first feeling is that I am very proud of my players because today’s performance was very, very good. I think we fully deserved to win today, completing every minute of the match.
“I had a slight doubt with the last minutes because you never know in a high-level match like this how we are going to finish, but we also finished very strong and it was a very complete match.”
The chastised Howe admitted his side, who would have finished third with a club-record 10th win, had been well below their best, a result not only of Bournemouth’s excellence but also of fatigue.
Howe said: “First of all, I have to congratulate our opponent. I thought Bournemouth were better than us today. I think they played very well and never allowed us to find our rhythm in the match.
“I was disappointed with our performance. It’s not the level we played at in the last group of games. I thought we looked devoid of energy today, a real problem athletically, I thought.
“You could see we were tired and we never really recovered from a bad start to the game, and ultimately there’s a lot to think about for me.
“I don’t really think any of our games have survived. I thought we were bad in every department and when you play like that you invariably get nothing out of the game.