Feyenoord will have to play without Igor Paixão in the midweek match against Go Ahead Eagles, the club reports via official channels. The Brazilian has suffered hamstring problems from the match against NEC and is being rested by head coach Arne Slot. At the same time, the Rotterdammers report that Quilindschy Hartman has successfully operated on his knee and can start working on his recovery.
Paixão scored the winning goal on behalf of Feyenoord in the cup final against NEC, but Slot forced him to rest on Thursday evening. Calvin Stengs' name may also be canceled. The left leg is suffering from minor complaints and is a question mark for the away match in Deventer, which starts at 9 p.m.
Feyenoord is also missing Mats Wieffer (thigh injury), Gjivai Zechiël (knee injury) and Hartman (knee injury). The latter has now successfully undergone surgery, although his rehabilitation will take months.
Two weeks ago, Slot announced that Justin Bijlow is fit again. Timon Wellenreuther 'just' kept the cup final against NEC and it is unclear whether Bijlow will defend the goal against Go Ahead.
Feyenoord still needs one point to officially take second place in the Eredivisie. That place is good for a Champions League ticket and Slot wants to secure that as quickly as possible.
Moreover, according to the coach, there is more at stake. Feyenoord became national champions last year with 82 points and can still reach 84 points this season. Only once did the Rotterdam team finish with more points. That was in the 1972/73 season, in which the club achieved 85 points (converted to a three-point system).
In addition, not counting the lost penalty series against AS Roma, Feyenoord has been undefeated for more than four months. That series says a lot about the team, Slot believes. “This team absolutely does not like to lose. With that characteristic we want to extend this series for a number of weeks,” Slot said on Feyenoord's website.
In the event of a loss of points for Feyenoord and a win for PSV, the Eindhoven team would already be champions. The leader will visit sc Heerenveen.
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