Arne Slot is hopeful that Justin Bijlow has recovered from his foot injury in time to start in the Conference League final against AS Roma. The 24-year-old goalkeeper of Feyenoord already participated in two full group training sessions during the training camp that the Rotterdam team invest in Lagos, Portugal, which Slot is satisfied with. The coach discusses the chances for Bijlow to play at the press conference after the training session on Thursday.
“It did indeed look good,” confirms the Feyenoord trainer. “But Justin always looks good when he’s fit, because he is the best goalkeeper or one of the best goalkeepers in the Netherlands for a reason. What matters now is that he stays really fit. Hopefully he will not relapse now that he is at the end of his rehabilitation.” Slot is not yet ready to say with certainty whether Bijlow will also be deployed in Tirana if he is physically fit. “In principle, Bijlow is our first man, provided he is fit. And if he is, we have to make the choice together.”
Justin Bijlow gives a very hopeful sign for the Conference League final
Slot emphasizes that it is a special situation that the involvement of the Feyenoord goalkeeper is discussed at all. “For a footballer, a lack of rhythm and substance might have been a problem,” he admits. “But we’re talking about a goalkeeper now. That is different for a keeper than for a field player. With a fielder, this scenario that we are now talking about would never have been possible. In addition, great talents often don’t need a lot to get back up to level.”
In Portugal, Slot tries to prepare his team as best as possible against the AS Roma of José Mourinho. “Marino Pusic (assistant of Slot ed.) has shown the group images of AS Roma. We started training based on that. We now have to see where we can hurt them. They will play with five defenders after the winter break. I’ve seen a lot of their matches where they played against teams with three forwards. I did have a picture of that”, concludes Slot.
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