Luke Littler speaks out on brutal Rotterdam crowd reaction with pointed dig

Luke Littler has made his feelings clear on the reaction he received from the Rotterdam crowd during night 11 of Premier League Darts.

The two-time reigning world champion would have been expecting a hostile reception from the Rotterdam faithful after his recent 'feud' with Dutch star Gian van Veen.

Van Veen complained that Littler made a 'crying gesture' towards him during his 6-5 win over 'The Nuke' during night nine in Manchester, while 'The Nuke' was also spotted performing a fist-bump after Van Veen missed two match darts at double.

Littler would later clarify that he was performing the fist-bump towards his girlfriend, Faith, and her father following the miss, but it still rubbed Van Veen - and many darts fans - up the wrong way.

There was a loud chorus of boos in Rotterdam when Littler was first shown on the big screen, while his walk-on was akin to John Cena's infamous ECW entrance as he was jeered all the way to the stage.

The atmosphere calmed once Littler got underway - though there were still jeers every time he missed a double or an important treble - and he defeated Gerwyn Price and Luke Humphries to reach the night final.

Jonny Clayton then had too much for him in winning 6-4, but Littler managed to pick up another three valuable points that moves him closer towards qualifying for Finals Night.

'The Nuke' chose not to publicly criticise the crowd in his responses on Instagram, but did make his feelings clear over where he stood.

"To play in them circumstances, I'll take three more points on the board," he wrote on his story. "Well played Jonny Clayton Liverpool next week."

In a separate post, he wrote the same congratulatory message to Clayton, simply adding: "Thanks Rotterdam."

The other six Premier League players have attempted to keep their distances on the row between Littler and Van Veen, and Clayton was no different during his post-match interview with Online Darts.

"I think he [Littler] is playing against about 13,000 men, to be honest," he said.

"The first game, he went out and just hammered the board, you know.

"I don't think it phases him. He's that good a player, he's fantastic.

"He's set the level that we've all got to chase, and sometimes we win, and sometimes we don't. Tonight, it was my night, and I really enjoyed that."