Feyenoord loses unnecessarily at Lazio and loses a strong starting position in the Champions League | Dutch football

When the fourth official holds up the board with the number of minutes of extra time, Arne Slot often shakes his head because the Feyenoord coach often finds the number on it rather economical. But in away games of the Champions League, Slot can now also shake his head because his formation suddenly lets himself be eaten shortly after the board has been shown. And that again and again after a long phase of domination.

In the Civitas Metropolitano, Feyenoord gave away the 2-2 against Atlético Madrid in injury time of the first half, when Antoine Griezmann was allowed to strike with an overhead kick. In the Stadio Olimpico, Feyenoord’s dominance against Lazio was comparable to the way the team ruled in Madrid. But even now the board had not even gone up with the four extra minutes before something went horribly wrong. Quinten Timber lost the ball and then the crafty Ciro Immobile is at his best.

Feyenoord did not yet have the defensive organization in order, the Italian striker dived into the depth from behind David Hancko and Gernot Trauner, rounded Justin Bijlow and saw that Hancko was counting more on a cross than a shot on goal. The 1-0 must have felt like a hammer blow for the Rotterdam team, because there was a very long phase in which the fourth group match in group E of the Champions League must have felt like a big rondo with Lazio in the middle.

Feyenoord’s players patiently passed the ball from foot to foot and Lazio was hardly involved. It did not produce any opportunities, but Santiago Giménez appeared alone in front of goalkeeper Ivan Provedel on Timber’s instructions and Igor Paixao was also allowed to fire on the Romans’ goalkeeper after attacking over many drives. In both cases, Lazio escaped and then struck out of nowhere.

Arne Slot had to boost his players again at halftime. The trainer was forced to bring Gernot Trauner into the line early in the match. The Austrian replaced Bart Nieuwkoop, who was taken away on a stretcher after a hard collision with Elseid Hysaj. De Zeeuw already had a yellow card in his pocket after a foul on Mattia Zaccagni in the opening minute, in which the Polish referee Szymon Marciniak showed no mercy.

Lazio, which will play the Roman derby against AS Roma on Sunday, obviously knew that Feyenoord would start attacking even more after the break to repair the damage. Giménez headed just wide on a pass from Paixão. Finally, Luka Ivanusec and Alireza Jahanbakhsh brought on the tired Trauner and Paixão. Lazio came out even less, but the chances remained few.

But no matter how strong Feyenoord’s development has been in recent years, winning away games in Europe is still a bridge too far. Okay, that worked in the Conference League. But one step higher in the Europa League, the team failed to take full advantage five times in a row last season and in the Champions League the team has dominated on foreign soil to date, but does not express the difference in footballing ability in terms of goals.

Just as Stadio Olimpico is not one of the favorite stadiums of the people of Rotterdam anyway. Lazio once again kept Feyenoord under control and AS Roma blocked their way to the semi-finals of the Europa League last season. This time the damage was still manageable.

With another home match against Atlético Madrid and an away match against Celtic, Feyenoord still has every chance to remain active in the billion-dollar ball. But the visit to Lazio, like the meeting with Atlético, felt like a missed opportunity.