Feyenoord has won the last group match in the Conference League. The team of trainer Arne Slot was already certain of the group win, but did not relinquish against Maccabi Haifa and won 2-1. As a result, Feyenoord closes the group stage with fourteen points. Slavia Prague took a point at the same time at Union Berlin (1-1) and therefore held on to second place.
Feyenoord welcomed Justin Bijlow back to the starting eleven after a corona infection. For various reasons, Gernot Trauner, Orkun Kökçü, Alreza Jahanbakhsh and Guus Til were missing, so Arne Slot cleared a starting spot for Ramon Hendriks, Mark Diemers, Reiss Nelson and Naoufal Bannis. The team from Rotterdam had difficulty setting up good attacks in the opening phase. After that, however, in the space of three minutes, three successive great opportunities arose for Dessers. He couldn’t take advantage of them all.
In the twentieth minute, Dessers suddenly appeared in front of Roi Mishpati’s goal, but he hit the keeper from a sharp angle. The striker then received a sharp cross from Mark Diemers and his header was turned back by Mishpati; Even in a one-on-one situation after a sharp pass by Lutsharel Geertruida, Dessers was unable to pass Maccabi’s goalkeeper. Nelson shot from a diagonal shot wide, before Dessers got his coveted goal. The attacker received the ball in Diemers’ penalty area, turned away from opponent Rami Gershon and finished immediately.
Ten minutes after the break, Maccabi almost scored an own goal, after which the visitors on the other side got a huge chance. Yuval Ashkenazi escaped the offside trap and was only allowed to charge at Bijlow, but shot eye to eye with the keeper just wide. Moments later, Bijlow had to save on a shot by Dolev Haziza. Maccabi, incidentally without the suspended Tjaronn Chery, claimed the equalizer, but it was Feyenoord that struck: Nelson dribbled towards goal, held back and found the right corner.
The average age of Feyenoord decreased significantly in the second half due to the entry of Mimeirhel Benita (eighteen), Lennard Hartjes (eighteen), debutant Sem Valk (nineteen), Antoni Milambo (sixteen) and Aliou Baldé (eighteen). The youthful Feyenoord had little trouble holding onto the lead for a long time. Dessers failed to increase the score from the spin. In stoppage time, Maccabi suddenly scored: Din David surprised Bijlow with a shot through the legs from a difficult angle. Feyenoord, however, closes the group stage with fourteen of the possible eighteen points and has remained unbeaten. As group winner, Feyenoord can enter the eighth finals.