Feyenoord played hard on Thursday in the eighth final of the Europa League. Arne Slot’s team showed Shakhtar Donetsk all corners of De Kuip and scored no fewer than seven goals: 7-1. With that, the team from Rotterdam remained far away from their biggest European victory ever, on September 27, 1972 against US Rumelange (0-12). Feyenoord thus joins the last eight.
Slot said in advance that next Sunday’s Classic against Ajax was ‘in no way’ taken into account in his line-up. The coach chose to give Gernot Trauner a starting spot for the first time since his injury, while Quilindschy Hartman was absent due to illness. Marcos López started in his place as Feyenoord’s left back. At Shakhtar, ex-Ajax player Lassina Traoré was again the only basic player without a Ukrainian passport. Part of the stands in De Kuip remained empty due to a penalty from UEFA.
Santiago Giménez already surprised the entire Ukrainian defense in the ninth minute of the game, by accelerating in the penalty area with a bounce over an outstretched leg. Shooting in was then a breeze: 1-0. Orkun Kökçü increased the score within fifteen minutes by placing the ball from about twenty meters on the right side of the side net: 2-0. In between, Shakhtar briefly made itself known with a devastating long shot from Georgiy Sudakov, which exploded on the crossbar. A handball from Yukhym Konoplya after a cross from Marcos López earned Feyenoord a penalty just before half-time. Kökçü shot it in effortlessly: 3-0.
In the second half, Oussama Idrissi quickly failed to reach the free Giménez, but in minute 49 he made up for that by dribbling in from the left and flawlessly finding the far corner: 4-0. After exactly one hour of play, Idrissi made a similar, but even better, 5-0. This time the left striker blasted in fantastically through the bottom of the crossbar. Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s 6-0, four minutes later, was also impressive. The Iranian took his time and hit from twenty meters with a hard placed ball. Danilo, now a substitute for Giménez, made it 7-0 a few minutes later with a placed shot from inside the penalty area.
The Rotterdam audience screamed for ten hits, for which there was still more than twenty minutes left at that time. However, Feyenoord slowed down and even conceded a goal in the final phase. Kevin Kelsy came one-on-one with Timon Wellenreuther and remained calm in that situation: 7-1.