After a fascinating and physically exhausting battle with AS Roma, Feyenoord has been eliminated in the quarter finals of the Europa League. Everything was there and on it, in an intense, beautiful but in phases also annoying match. After extra time, AS Roma wins 4-1, after Feyenoord’s 1-0 win in Rotterdam last week.
The tight heads are visible at Feyenoord, just before nine o’clock in the catacomb of Stadio Olimpico. Here they were blown away by fellow townsman Lazio in the group stage of the Europa League at the beginning of September. It was 4-0 after more than sixty minutes – Feyenoord scored twice. The team was only just complete, the patterns had not yet been broken in, not all players were fit.
Feyenoord hardly gets time to breathe now. AS Roma opens furiously, is more aggressive. There is an unnecessary loss of ball from Mats Wieffer in midfield, after which Roma is immediately gone and captain Lorenzo Pellegrini shoots, the ball is blocked by goalkeeper Justin Bijlow.
Feyenoord finds no rest on the ball, threatens to be overrun. The public is going to support it, just as Roma coach José Mourinho wanted it. Bryan Cristante shoots just wide after a cross from Nemanja Matic, because Feyenoord gives away too much space on the right.
Out of the shell
Feyenoord weathers that first storm with some art and flying. And then suddenly crawls out of the shell. Orkun Kökcü sends Alireza Jahanbakhsh beautifully into the depth, after which the Iranian frees the storming Sebastian Szymanski in front of the goal, but his effort comes right on the body of goalkeeper Rui Patricio. It is what Feyenoord hoped for, the spaces that Roma would give away in the dogged hunt for a goal.
It’s intense fighting football, with some Italian theater on a regular basis. Mourinho’s entire pallet passes by. Roma players lie down easily, decisions are challenged again and again. Although Feyenoord player Wieffer also puts the studs in Cristante’s shin guards, which earns him yellow.
Along the way, AS Roma loses former Feyenoord player Georginio Wijnaldum, apparently with a hamstring injury – Stephan El Shaarawy comes in his place. And Mourinho loses his assistant Salvatore Foti, who gets a red card for an incident at the dugout: he gives a tap to Feyenoord striker Santiago Giménez when he wants to grab the ball.
Feyenoord manages to hold its own in that wrought-up atmosphere. It fights in the match, against the physically stronger Roma. It is a few times dangerous with shots from a distance, via Quilindschy Hartman and Kökcü. On the other hand, there is a huge chance for El Shaarawy, but he chases the ball over.
The field game is for Feyenoord, the air game for Roma. Almost everything goes up from the back at Roma, partly due to the pressure that Feyenoord puts on early. And Roma has the advantage of more tall players, although Feyenoord’s two tough central defenders – Gernot Trauner and David Hancko – gradually win the most headers.
Feyenoord toes
Feyenoord escapes, immediately after the break. Pellegrini just taps a ball on the post when the defense is not sharp. Fifteen minutes later things go wrong at Feyenoord. A throw-in by Roma deep in the enemy half, a messy situation, Hancko can’t get the ball away. Leonardo Spinazzola picks up, his shot rolls through a collection of Feyenoord toes: 1-0. Mourinho does not move a muscle, although the relief will be great.
The pressure from AS Roma is increasing, Feyenoord survives. Ten minutes before the end there is suddenly an outbreak, with Szymanski who perfectly delivers the ball from the right to the eager forehead of the small Brazilian Igor Paixão, who heads in outlawed: 1-1. The organization at Roma is gone after the failure of central defender Chris Smalling.
Mourinho clenches fists
Six minutes separate Feyenoord from the semi-final, when El Shaarawy sets up an attack from the left. He finds Pellegrini, who plays in Paulo Dybala, the injured Argentinian attacker who came on in the second half. He turns away from guard Trauner, and shoots in beautifully from the turn. 2-1. Mourinho clenches his fists. A goal that Roma saves. It will go into extra time, as the score over two matches is now 2-2.
It is the chance that Feyenoord will remember for a long time. Giménez finds the space, gets the ball in a promising position, but he goes over hard. After which AS Roma defender Roger Ibanez hits the post from a corner kick.
It has become a wear and tear. The spaces are getting bigger, there are more holes in the back. The hundredth minute runs when Feyenoord leaves too much space in the back left for substitute Tammy Abraham. He passes tightly in front, whereupon El Shaarawy simply taps in with his right foot just before Trauner.
It turns out to be the final blow for Feyenoord. That is no longer the case. In the second half of extra time, Pellegrini makes 4-1. Gimenez is still red for rashly passing on a player. It is a bitter end to a fine European campaign. And the revenge against AS Roma, which Feyenoord defeated last year in the Conference League final, will not materialize.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of April 21, 2023.