Feyenoord escaped the first loss of points of the season in De Kuip on Saturday evening. The team of trainer Arne Slot gave up a 2-0 lead, but still pulled the longest end in the final phase: 5-3. Former Feyenoord player Calvin Verdonk thought he had the winning goal for a while, but saw how Guus Til prevented a defeat for the Rotterdam team with two hits. Cyriel Dessers made the party complete.
Feyenoord is on an excellent run when it comes to home games. Slot’s team has not lost a point at home in the first five games this season. The last trainer who managed to win Feyenoord’s first six home games was Clemens Westerhof in 1980. Slot had an almost fit selection against NEC and only had to come up with an alternative to the injury of Marcus Pedersen, who did not come out unscathed. the duel with sc Heerenveen came midweek. Lutsharel Geertruida took his place in right back position.
Feyenoord started the duel sharply and looked provoked. At the first moment of excitement, it was immediately hit for Slot’s team. Geertruida interfered in the attack and tapped the ball on the edge of the penalty area to Guus Til, who was knocked out by the NEC goalkeeper in an attempt to round Mattijs Branderhorst. Orkun Kökçü took his place behind the ball and sent Branderhorst into the wrong corner from eleven meters: 1-0. NEC was overrun by the home team in the first quarter of the game and faced another goal not much later.
After a beautiful pass over forty meters from Marcos Senesi, Luis Sinisterra made a good diagonal hit with the left: 2-0. When Feyenoord then slowed down a bit, NEC made the connection goal completely unexpectedly. Jonathan Okita passed the ball into the course with Magnus Mattsson, who found the left corner with a flaming shot: 2-1. Feyenoord was given the opportunity to raise the margin to two again via Alireza Jahanbakhsh, but the Iranian saw his free kick go just over. On the other hand, NEC was accurate via Cas Odenthal, who was able to finish from close range on another pass from Okita.
In the second act, both teams stepped up their game. Elayis Tavsan shot over, as did Kökçü. Feyenoord kept the pressure on well in the first quarter of the second half, but did not get further than a shot on Malacia’s post. Slot then brought in Dessers and Fredrik Aursnes, but it was NEC that took the lead. Verdonk was cold in the field and hit hard and low in the right corner. Feyenoord then straightened up again and came alongside via Til, who headed in from a corner from Kökçü: 3-3.
When the game then appeared to be heading for a draw, Til set De Kuip on fire again. The midfielder took full advantage of a block from Bryan Linssen and hit hard: 4-3. Referee Joey Kooij was called to the screen by VAR Siemen Mulder, but did not think Linssen’s block was sufficient for a foul. The final chord came from the foot of Dessers, who fantastically turned away from his direct opponent and hit with the left: 5-3.