Feyenoord convincingly qualified for the play-offs of the Conference League on Thursday. Arne Slot’s team won the return against FC Luzern in De Kuip 3-0, after the Rotterdam team had already been too strong for the Swiss in the first leg with 0-3 last week. Alireza Jahanbakhsh made his first goals for Feyenoord with the 1-0 and the 2-0, but he had to be replaced before half time due to injuries. He thinks that the seriousness of the injury is not that bad, but Slot is not reassured.
Jahanbakhsh grabbed his groin after the 2-0, but admitted afterwards that he actually had complaints after the 1-0 in the ninth minute. “Then I thought: maybe I should be changed. It was a little stiff. Then I continued for a while,” Jahanbakhsh explained for the camera of ESPN. After the second goal, the summer acquisition could not continue. “I thought if I make a few actions, I’ll be fine. But then I thought: No do not do that. If it gets a little worse, I’ll have to miss matches and so I didn’t want to take any chances.”
???? First goal Jahanbakhsh in the service of Feyenoord! #feyluz pic.twitter.com/bSdICdJA5Y
— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) August 12, 2021
Slot wasn’t quite sure. “I’ve known Ali for a while. Players always say afterwards that it’s not that bad, but we’ll be playing again in three days”, the trainer of the Rotterdam team pointed out to Willem II after the first competition match on Sunday. “Let’s assess it tomorrow (Friday, ed.). You don’t just let yourself be changed, especially not in a match like this where it’s great fun to play football. You don’t just do that.”
Slot was pleased with the convincing way in which his team qualified for the play-offs on Thursday. “It’s all very nice, but actually it’s only just beginning. That’s what I said to the boys. The league kicks off on Sunday, followed by the play-offs. Let’s properly interpret what we are doing.”
Slot saw that Feyenoord started the game in De Kuip fiercely. “I am very satisfied with the way in which I was doing. It exceeded expectations. From the first seconds we were on top of it and we had a chance at a chance. After five minutes you already think: if we start so aggressively, it must be very strange to let it go wrong. It took a long time before the 2-0 fell.”
Feyenoord now has to survive one preliminary round to reach the main tournament of the Conference League. For this, Slot’s team has to deal with the Swedish IF Elfsborg, which defeated Velez Mostar from Bosnia and Herzegovina at the same time 1-4 after a 1-1 draw in the first game. The first leg is next Thursday in Rotterdam and the return a week later in Sweden.