THURSDAY 28TH AUGUST

EUROPA LEAGUE PLAYOFF – SECOND LEG

FEYENOORD 4 – 3 ZOYRA LUHANSK

Feyenoord win 5-4 on aggregate

Elvis is the KING of Rotterdam after a late Elvis Manu goal saved Feyenoord’s blushes and fired them into the Europa League group stages writes Ryan O’Grady.

Three lucky goals for Feyenoord followed by three defensive lapses that cost three goals and to round it all off Manu, the substitute, scored the winner in the 92^nd minute. The fact that Feyenoord are through will cover up serious issues with their defensive performance tonight, but judging by Manu & Co’s reaction at the final whistle that’s something they’ll deal with that later because now is the time to celebrate their passage onto the group stages.

After a disappointing defeat at the weekend to Utrecht the pressure was on for Fred Rutten and he made two changes to the team, Nelom and Manu were replaced by Kongolo and Basaçikoglu respectively. Feyenoord started well with Schaken winning a free kick just to the right of the box after a foul by Ignjatijević. The Zorya defence dealt with the initial free kick but they could only clear it as far as Schaken on the edge of the box whose shot pinballed off different players before falling to te Vrede but his shot was well saved by Shevchenko. Then in the ninth minute Zorya had a chance of their own, after winning a free kick just outside the box, the ball was floated in and Segbefia got his head on it but it was blocked well by van Beek just in front of goal.

In the 13th minute Budkivskiy received the ball inside the D and turned van Beek before going down inside the box and the penalty was given, however the linesman immediately called over the referee and told him that Budkivskiy was pulling van Beek shirt and on replay he was shown to be correct and the penalty decision was rescinded with Budkivskiy lucky not to get booked for going down easily. Feyenoord replied with a goal from a free kick, it was delivered into the box and was dealt with once more by the Zorya defence but it again fell to a Feyenoord player, this time Vilhena, his shot was also deflected but it again fell to Te Vrede who this time made no mistake and smashed it home hard and low.

Almost straight from the kick off a cross was put in for te Vrede but it was just too high and skimmed the striker’s head. In the 22nd minute the Feyenoord defence fell asleep, the ball was put into the Feyenoord box from the right wing and both van Beek and Wilkshire went for the same ball and got in each other’s way allowing the ball to fall to Malinovskiy but he seemed to panic under pressure from Immers and hit the crossbar when he should’ve at least got it on target. This moment of hesitation was punished almost immediately when Vilhena crossed from deep and Kongolo rose up to meet the header but missed the target, however it fell to Schaken who bundled it in from close range. After the goal Feyenoord seemed to be settling down for half time which meant there wasn’t a lot happened after that only when Basaçikoglu broke clear before sending in a dreadful cross.

The second half started well for Feyenoord, only two minutes in Schaken sent in a cross that should have been easily cleared but Bilyi didn’t seem to know what to do with it, eventually stooping low and heading it into his own net. Straight from the restart the Zorya players sent the ball back to their keeper who was charged down by Schaken and Shevchenko’s clearance hit Schaken right in the face before just going over the crossbar.

After this near miss Feyenoord’s defence crumbled, first Basaçikoglu gave away a foul on the near touchline in the 56th minute and the free kick was converted by Malinovskiy who got the slightest of touches on it with a free diving header. Then in the 70th minute, following a relatively quiet period, Kongolo headed out a dangerous looking cross for a corner but the resulting corner was converted by Bilyi who was inexplicably unmarked inside the six-yard box.

The comeback was complete in the 78th minute when just before he received the ball Immers slipped allowing Malinovskiy to collect the ball and from around 35 yards out scored a screamer into the bottom right corner leaving Mulder with no chance, however you could argue that once Immers slipped the defence could’ve put more pressure on him, instead they backed off allowing him to score and send the ten Zorya fans that had bothered to turn up into ecstasy.

This forced Rutten to bring on two attackers in Manu and Achahbar, for Clasie and Mathijsen respectively. The Manu substitution paid off in the 92nd minute when he received the ball on the edge of the box before impressively spinning and pushing past three players and slotting the ball home to spark rapturous celebrations all around De Kuip including on the bench and in the Director’s box.

TEAMS

FEYENOORD: Mulder, Wilkshire, Van Beek, Mathijsen (Manu 84), Kongolo, Clasie (Achahbar 84), Immers, Vilhena, Schaken, Te Vrede, Basacikoglu (Nelom 78).

SUBS NOT USED: Hahn, Nelom, Steenvoorden, Karsdorp, Vormer, Manu, Achahbar.

GOALS: Te Vrede 18, Schaken 27, Bilyi 48OG, Manu 90+2.

BOOKINGS: Basacikoglu 55, Te Vrede 87, Manu 90+3.

ZOYRA: Sjevtsjenko, Kamenjoeka, Bilyi, Ignjatijevic (Pysko 72), Pyljavskji, Karavajev (Chaykovsky 79), Tsjaikovksy, Segbefia (Ljubenovic 66), Malynovskyj, Chomtsjenovsky, Boedkivskij.

SUBS NOT USED: Santini, Lipartia, Yarmash, Boroday.

GOALS: Malynovskyj 56 & 80, Bilyi 71.

BOOKINGS: None.

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THURSDAY 21ST AUGUST

EUROPA LEAGUE PLAYOFF – FIRST LEG

ZOYRA LUHANSK 1 – 1 FEYENOORD

Feyenoord disappoint in Europe once again as they head back De Kuip with a 1-1 draw in what could be Jordy Clasie’s last game for the club. Maksim Beliy gave Zorya the lead with a deflected free kick before te Vrede levelled in the 37th minute in an uneventful game in Ukraine reports Ryan O’Grady.

Feyenoord came into this game off the back of a slightly disappointing draw with Heerenveen at home, whilst opponents Zorya were coming into this game in 7^th in their domestic league. This game was not only important for Feyenoord but for Dutch football in general, if you look at the UEFA country coefficients then you’ll notice that Ukraine lie in eighth just ahead of the Netherlands in ninth, so a win for Feyenoord could benefit all Dutch teams who qualify for Europe in the future.

The game kicked off very slowly with the first shot on target coming in the 21^st minute. Before that there were barely any half chances, with only a couple of note, one was te Vrede running clear before over-running the ball and the second occurred when Vilhena slid in to get a touch on a cross from Schaken but it went well over. Then in the 21^st came the first real chance, Chaykovskiy was booked for a challenge on Kongolo where he swung for the ball but Kongolo manages to knock it past him before he was brought down. Clasie stepped up to take the free kick and it looked like it was heading into the top corner before Shevchenko, the Zorya keeper, made a really good save and pushed it out for a corner which came to nothing. The reply from Zorya came in the 27^th minute when they won a free kick on the edge of the box, Khomchenovskiy touched it to Maksim Beliy before he fired a low ball in that gained a deflection and went into the bottom corner leaving Mulder with no chance and brought out an eccentric celebration from Vernydub, the Zorya coach. This brought a short period of pressure from the home side, with another free kick 3 minutes later that Ignjatijević put just wide. Then in the 32^nd minute Feyenoord replied with a shot from Vilhena on the edge of the box that was blocked by the goalscorer Beliy. This was followed by the Feyenoord equaliser, Wilkshire controlled a cross-field ball before he sent in a cross that beat three defenders before Mitchell te Vrede tapped it in from close range, the Zorya centre-back should’ve have positioned himself better so he could’ve cut out the cross. The half was then finished off by a long-range effort from Clasie into the bottom corner of the net but was saved by Shevchenko.

During half time a substitution was made by Zorya, Maksim Malyshev had to come off after sustaining a head injury in the first half and was replaced by Oleksandr Grytsay. The start of the second half was almost identical to the first half with nothing happening at either end where up until the 59^th minute the only event of note was Kongolo getting booked for a challenge on Karavayev. In the 59^th minute van Beek fouled striker Budkivskiy who was Zorya’s most useful player on the night. The free kick was taken by Malinovskiy and was headed for the top corner on the near side of the goal but it was well saved by Mulder. Almost immediately after this shot came two golden oppurtunities for Zorya, first Budkivskiy received the ball in the box with far too much space around him but his was shot was palmed away by Mulder only for Karavaev to try and follow it up but at the crucial moment he was tackled brilliantly by captain Jordy Clasie This was followed by a substitution from Feyenoord coach, Frank Rutten, who took off Boëtius, who has clearly not been performing at his best recently, and brought on new signing Basaçikoglu, who had no impact whatsoever. In the 67^th minute Khomchenovskiy was one-on-one with the keeper but Mulder came out well and saved the shot easily. Then Jordy Clasie had to come off because he had been struggling with cramp since his brilliant last-ditch tackle 10 minutes earlier and was replaced by Vormer. Another eventless few minutes passed by ended only by a brilliant chance for Lex Immers. Substitute Vormer sent in a cross onto which Lex Immers ran onto right in front of goal before unbelievably putting it over, he was under pressure from Chaykovskiy and arguably had a penalty claim for his challenge but he still should have put the ball away. This was followed immediately by a Zorya counter attack where they themselves were unlucky not receive a penalty after a van Beek challenge. In the 89^th minute came the best chance yet for Feyenoord, Schaken ran down the line before putting in a lofted cross that was met at the far post by Vilhena but he inexplicably put it wide and to use a common footballing phrase ‘it seemed easier to score than miss’. He appeared to try and place the header rather than just heading it down which almost certainly would’ve resulted in a goal and the win for Feyenoord. However the Feyenoord performance as a whole was poor and they didn’t deserve the win.

TEAMS

ZORYA: Shevchenko, Kamenyuka, Beliy, Ignjatijevic, Pysko, Karavayev, Chaykovsky, Malyshev (Gritsay 47), Khomchenovskiy, Segbefia (Malinovsky 57), Budkovskiy.

SUBS NOT USED: Santini, Khudzik, Yarmash, Ljubenovic, Pylyavskyi.

GOALS: Beliy 27.

BOOKINGS: Chaykovskiy 21.

FEYENOORD: Mulder, Wilkshire (Karsdorp 83), Van Beek, Mathijsen, Kongolo, Clasie (Vormer 73), Immers, Vilhena, Schaken, Te Vrede, Boëtius (Basacikoglu 63).

SUBS NOT USED: Hahn, Nelom, Steenvoorden, Manu.

GOALS: Te Vrede 38.

BOOKINGS: Boëtius 29, Kongolo 55.

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