Hamburg - Dutch international Rafael van der Vaart had his sense of humour sorely tested by team-mates at SV Hamburg when they presented him with a jersey at their Christmas party effectively calling him a traitor. The players' Christmas gift to their captain was an orange Valencia shirt with the number 23 and bearing the name "van der Verrat". Verrat is the German word for betrayal.
Van der Vaart had wanted to leave Hamburg for Valencia in August after the Spanish club made an 18-million-euro (25 million dollars) offer.
The 24-year-old midfielder had been controversially photographed at the time holding up a Valencia team shirt.
Hamburg refused to sell, and fans who jeered van der Vaart at the start of the season now appear to have forgiven their idol.
However, the players' present, although intended as a joke, shows that the incident has not been entirely forgotten.
Van der Vaart was relaxed about the gift, according to Germany's Bild newspaper Wednesday.
"That's humour. I'm keeping the shirt," he was quoted as saying.
