With a fierce sprint he is the first to head to the dressing room, shortly before kick-off, after his warm-up. His gaze in utter concentration, apparently on a mission. Early in the evening his name echoes through the stadium, as the most popular Feyenoord player. As he warms up, he throws his arms high in the air and waves to the audience.
A Mexican flag waves from the hard core when the Champions League anthem sounds. Mexican Feyenoord striker Santiago Giménez (22) makes a hard sprint, slaloming to his position. He is ready for it: his Champions League debut, at home against Lazio.
In the run-up to the match, he posts a video on social media. Giménez looks over the Erasmus Bridge from his apartment on the Kop van Zuid as he listens to voice messages from family members. “This long-awaited day has finally arrived,” says his mother. “You will definitely play brutally in the match, ‘loco’,” says friend Fer. “Dear son, today is the day,” says his father, himself a former professional football player. “You are going to play in the tournament you have always dreamed of.”
Flashy attack
He missed the first two group matches due to his red card in the final phase of the Europa League quarter-final against AS Roma last season. That was also the confrontation in which it became clear that Giménez is still short of the European top. Against Lazio’s city rival, he was in a tight spot with the strong English defender Chris Smalling in two intense games.
How he can make that last step depends on the team game, Feyenoord coach Arne Slot said on Tuesday. Giménez “above all” needs a team that is “even more dangerous and dominant”, which will put him in promising positions more often. “It’s not so much about his qualities, although there are things that can be improved in everything about him. The biggest difference between an Eredivisie match and a European top match is the number of times we can put him in position.” Giménez has already scored thirteen times in the Eredivisie this season.
In the interplay to create opportunities, “he is also playing an increasingly prominent role,” Slot said. That became apparent on Wednesday. Giménez regularly drops back to launch an attack with a short combination. This leads to a flashy attack on the left in the first minutes.
Feyenoord controls completely against Lazio. Makes triangles easily, finds the spaces, always has an excess in midfield. It led to a great header chance from Giménez after ten minutes, after a cross from Igor Paixao. Giménez heads a meter wide; No matter how high he jumps, he just doesn’t reach the right height.
Slot hops along fanatically along the line, pointing out how his team should apply pressure and position. Giménez doesn’t have to look where the goal is, he knows it instinctively. Suddenly he is gone, after 25 minutes, on an excellent deep pass from Calvin Stengs. Giménez squeezes the ball over the keeper. “The man with number 29, he’s doing it again,” shouts stadium speaker Peter Houtman. But Giménez is just offside, it turns out.
Classic goal
Five minutes later it happened again. Lazio is chased fiercely, Feyenoord jumps away, Wieffer takes the ball from Stengs, and passes Giménez perfectly. With his back to the goal, the striker turns away from Nicolo Casale and shoots into the corner, out of reach of goalkeeper Ivan Provedel. Classic Giménez goal. A man wearing a sombrero recoils in the stands at the 1-0 score.
At that stage, Giménez is everywhere. He takes over the defensive work from Stengs when he is not around after a failed attack. Shortly afterwards, Giménez returns a graceful ball, after a clever action. Shortly before half time he was booked for waving his left arm too wildly against guard Casale in an aerial duel.
Although he is not involved in a wonderful team goal just before half time. They find each other so easily, Quinten Timber, Ramiz Zerrouki, Wieffer, Zerrouki again, Bart Nieuwkoop and Stengs, who dribbles away. He passes to Zerrouki, who makes it 2-0 with a shot into the far corner.
After the break, Feyenoord is sloppier, which means Giménez appears a little less in the game. Shortly after the restart, he shoots opportunistically from distance, without success. However, he decides the match fifteen minutes before the end. He is in exactly the right place, for the rebound on Timber’s shot.
He receives a standing ovation when he is substituted for Japanese striker Ayase Ueda moments later. Giménez makes a quick turn to thank everyone – on what was his evening. Without him, Feyenoord conceded another goal from a penalty: 3-1.