Arne Slot chooses two surprising names in the away match against 1. FC Union Berlin on Thursday evening. The Feyenoord trainer puts Lutsharel Geertruida and Fredrik Aursnes in his starting team, at the expense of Marcus Pedersen and Alireza Jahanbakhsh. RTV Rijnmond reports that Jahanbakhsh is out due to injury, while Pederson starts ‘not armpit fresh’ on the bench. The Conference League game starts at 9 p.m.
Slot’s choices are somewhat surprising, as it was expected that Feyenoord would play in the same formation as Sunday against Sparta Rotterdam (0-1 win). Geertruida will replace Pederson one-on-one as right-back. With Aursnes instead of Jahanbakhsh, Slot opts for more defensive security. Jens Toornstra probably starts as a disguised right winger, although a four-man midfield is also not excluded. In that case, Bryan Linssen and Luis Sinisterra are the only attackers.
Feyenoord is in excellent shape in Group E and could even secure a European hibernation on Thursday evening. The team from Rotterdam collected seven points from three matches and are therefore at the top. Maccabi Haifi, Slavia Prague and Union follow on four, three and three points respectively.
Line-up Feyenoord: Bijlow; Geertruida, Trauner, Senesi, Malacia; Aursnes, Til, Kokcu; Toornstra, Linssen, Sinisterra