Saturday, April 30, 2022 at 06:51• Rian Rosendaal

As an analyst, Wim Kieft greatly enjoyed Cyriel Dessers’ game against Olympique Marseille in the semifinals of the Conference League on Thursday evening. The former attacker, who was present as an analyst in De Kuip, even dares to call the Feyenoord attack leader a ‘European phenomenon’. Kieft also advises trainer Arne Slot not to involve the defensive positions in Thursday’s return match in Marseille.

“Cyriel Dessers is emerging as a true European phenomenon for Feyenoord this season,” Kieft writes in his weekly column for The Telegraph† “He is in such a flow that almost every ball flies in. Although he could even have scored four times instead of twice. That chop by Luis Sinisterra at Desser’s first goal was not wrong,” he refers to the beautiful 1-0 of the Belgian striker against Marseille. Kieft is also impressed with Tyrell Malacia’s performance, despite not considering him to be a ‘big and strong defender’.

“He compensates for this with speed and insight. Because he is quite a passionate player, who prefers to perform everything at a high pace, he suffered too much loss of the ball in the build-up. In the meantime, Malacia has become calmer on the ball, he chooses the right moments better and is thus of much more value for Feyenoord,” said Kieft, who nevertheless saw Marseille return strongly to De Kuip after the 2-0 deficit. “As Feyenoord, you could consider playing a little more defensively during the return in France with that knowledge. Slot would be crazy if he decided to do so,” the Feyenoord coach is advised.

“The strength and quality of his team is in the chosen aggressive offensive style,” Kieft explains. “Every player knows what is required of him and what tasks he has to perform. Feyenoord should not let that go. You give away spaces and are vulnerable in the counter, but that does not outweigh the advantages of the chosen playing method by Slot. nothing else or the return offers a lot of spectacle again.” The return game in Marseille starts on Thursday at 9 p.m. Should Feyenoord reach the final, a confrontation against AS Roma or Leicester City awaits. Those clubs came to a 1-1 draw in England on Thursday.