Feyenoord seemed to be under high tension in the first half. Not much worked in the first Champions League match. With a 0-0 score, half time seemed to be reached, but then Stengs almost out of nowhere shot the 1-0 against the ropes. A rehearsed free kick with teammates ducking left goalkeeper Joe Hart without a chance. “At first David Hancko wanted to take it, so I asked: are you going to shoot? Then he said I could take it. I am also first on the list,” says Stengs at RTL7.
“It’s a nice goal with a hole in the wall. Now it works out well that two boys are there, but a block in front of the goalkeeper makes it more difficult. Smooth field, then the ball slides through nicely,” Stengs says about the goal. Things had to be better in the second half. “Especially because more was really possible. We had to play better and we did that. Pure and Don’t be sloppy, that worked.”
Igor Paixão missed a penalty in the second half. “That was difficult for him, it was also his debut in the Champions League. But I liked that the audience supported him and his name was chanted. All in all it is a wonderful evening.”
“You’re not shocked, because you know when you analyze Celtic that they are pressing aggressively. But we were very restless, a lot of difficult passes. The good thing about the first half is that if you don’t play very well, you don’t give much away. Maybe we invested in the first half to create spaces in the second half,” Arne Slot looks back on the match.
Match center
• Check the complete Champions League program here.