Feyenoord reached the semifinals of the Conference League on Thursday evening. A week after the 3-3 draw at home, the team of trainer Arne Slot won 1-3 against Slavia Prague. Cyriel Dessers scored twice; Luis Sinisterra determined the final score. Feyenoord thus remains in the race for the first European prize since the won UEFA Cup in 2002. In the semi-finals, the Rotterdam team will face Olympique Marseille, which eliminated PAOK Saloniki.
The match got off to a spectacular start. In the first minute, Slavia was close to scoring; in the second minute the ball was in it on the other side. After goalkeeper Ofir Marciano saved a low shot from Yira Sor from close range, Slavia’s gunner resulted in Feyenoord’s opening goal. Aiham Ousou made a mistake after a throw-in from Tyrell Malacia, after which Dessers managed to surprise defender Taras Kacharaba. The striker, who is preferred over Bryan Linssen, charged at goalkeeper Ales Mandous and aimed straight into the right corner: 0-1.
It was a dream start for Feyenoord, but the visitors could not enjoy the lead for long. A disastrous pass from Orkun Kökçü resulted in an equalizer after thirteen minutes: the midfielder missed Marciano far enough, allowing Ibrahim Traoré to intervene. The Ivorian, who was accurate in De Kuip last week, outplayed Marciano and finished off in an empty goal. The goal clearly did Slavia good. Feyenoord had trouble with the fierce, constantly chasing Slavia, which hardly got into trouble in the back.
Only in the last minute of the first half did Feyenoord get another great chance. Through a few detours, a corner ended up at Reiss Nelson. Just before goal, however, the attacker hit the ball completely wrong, leaving it at 1-1 for half-time. Ten minutes after the break, the injured Jens Toornstra, who replaced the injured Guus Til, had to stop. Patrik Wålemark was his replacement. Thanks to a huge blunder by Mandous, Feyenoord still came in 1-2. The goalkeeper suddenly let the ball jump far from the foot. The alert Dessers picked up the ball, passed Mandous and shot in.
Given the small lead, the tension was high, but Luis Sinisterra decided the game thirteen minutes before the end. The attacker was launched by a through ball from substitute Jorrit Hendrix, trumped defender Alexander Bah, saw Mandous misplaced and searched the right corner. Dessers missed a huge chance at the 1-4 in a counterattack, when he encountered Mandous’s foot in a one-on-one duel. He failed to score his ninth goal in the Conference League; Dessers currently shares the top spot on the top scorer list with Tammy Abraham of AS Roma with eight goals. Slavia ended the game with ten men because of a heavy charge by Taras Kacharaba on Kökçü.