After a nice round of applause for Wim Jansen, who died last week, the only city derby in the Eredivisie was started with Luis Sinisterra as the base player for the home team for the first time since the Classic. At Sparta, Maduka Okoye, who had returned from the Africa Cup, was again under the bar. The goalkeeper was passed within four minutes. Orkun Kökcü got the ball and shot in through a Sparta defender.
Not long after, it was already hit for the second time. After a good opening by Kökcü, Sinisterra gave a fine pass to Alireza Jahanbakhsh. Because Okoye slipped on the slippery field, it was a breeze for the Iranian to make it 2-0. Feyenoord was therefore much stronger than the visitors, although it was not the case that the great opportunities really came together, but Linssen and Kökcü could have taken care of the 3-0 within half an hour. Sparta was unable to counter more than a long shot from Lennart Thy.
Alireza Jahanbaksh made it 2-0.
Ⓒ ProShots
In the third quarter, the visitors reported a little more to the enemy half, but the only real chance was for Tyrell Malacia, who aimed a somewhat wild volley. The first opportunity for Sparta came shortly after the break, when Adrián Dalmau was unable to give direction to a header. However, the nice start of the second half of Sparta was soon overshadowed by Feyenoord’s 3-0. After the ball came to his feet, Guus Til was able to easily sign for his twelfth goal of the season. This put him on a level with top scorer Sébastien Haller.
The midfielder even passed the Ivorian moments later, after Sparta helped Feyenoord again with a slip. This time it was Bart Vriends who couldn’t stand on his feet, after which Til could easily finish. Not long after, he was replaced in a triple substitution, with which Slot awarded Jorrit Hendrix and Patrik Wålemark their Feyenoord debut. For the American Cole Bassett, no playing minutes had yet been set aside.
After the many changes, including with the visitors, Sparta got its biggest chance of the match five minutes before the end, but Mario Engels failed to score the goal. On the other hand, Okoye prevented an even bigger defeat for the club from the west of Rotterdam with a save.
Sign up for the Football Update and stay up to date with the latest football news.