‘Go for number one’

Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 09:12• Mart Oude Nijeweeme • Last update: 09:17

After Feyenoord’s 3-1 win against sc Heerenveen, most attention went to Bryan Linssen. The attacker scored beautifully with the heel and thus joined the Club of 100 with his 100th goal in the Eredivisie this century. This makes Linssen the fifth player to achieve that milestone. The attack leader returned to the base against Heerenveen after he had to settle for a place on the reserve bench against PSV on Sunday.

Linssen again formed an attack trio against Heerenveen with Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Luis Sinisterra, but it was Guus Til who gave the Rotterdam team the lead after ten minutes of play. That score was doubled after an hour of play by Linssen, who shot himself wide with a nice heel ball in an illustrious row. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (154), Luuk de Jong (135), Dirk Kuyt (134) and Blaise N’Kufo (114) previously recorded the hundred goals in the Eredivisie this century. “I’m going for number one, I still have a few years left,” Linssen laughs. “That would be very nice.”

According to Linssen, it was not immediately clear that he would be back in the starting lineup against Heerenveen. “You always have to wait and see what the trainer wants,” said the striker. “I think I came in well against PSV and could have been important for the team. Now I expected that I would start again. I must honestly say that I didn’t play a good game, I did get a little better in the second half in. Then I’m happy with that goal. I don’t think we won on good football, but on intensity.”

Linssen cannot deny that the high intensity at Feyenoord is quite spicy at times. “Especially if you play matches in quick succession and in the same composition,” the striker acknowledges. “But as long as you win matches and the atmosphere is positive, you will be fine. But as soon as you lose everything becomes negative and then it becomes heavier. At the moment the atmosphere is good, then it is easier.” Linssen is particularly pleased with the interaction with Til. “He is such an old trotter. He has lungs, that is unprecedented. At the moment he is playing very well and is very important to us. It is nice that we now have more guys who score goals.”