Marco van Basten left Ryan Babel out of Holland's team for Saturday's Euro 2008 qualifier with Romania because of oversleeping.
Van Basten leaves out Reds star for oversleeping
Marco van Basten left Ryan Babel out of Holland's team for Saturday's Euro 2008 qualifier with Romania because of oversleeping.
Holland chief van Basten chose Real Madrid's Arjen Robben in place of Liverpool's Babel as a punishment for twice missing team meetings ahead of the defeat to Romania.
Overslept
Van Basten said: "It was the second time that Babel overslept on a match day. That should never happen.
"That's why I left him out of the team. Robben trained hard and he is fit, so he played instead."
Babel's behaviour irked van Basten and he has warned the former Ajax youngster he must obey the rules with the national team.
Obey rules
"It is very well possible that Babel feels disappointed," added van Basten. "It is also not my style to handle these kinds of things this way. But we also expect that players obey rules during a match.
"The first time that he arrived too late, he settled the matter with a joke.
"The second time he joined us too late for the meal and that was a bit too much. He has to appear on time, just like all the others."
Babel came on as a late substitute against Romania, but he could not prevent his side from going down 1-0.
