Arne Slot has announced Feyenoord’s line-up for the away match against Sparta Rotterdam. The coach chooses to return Alireza Jahanbakhsh to the starting team, which means that Fredrik Aursnes moves to the reserve bench. The latter was allowed to show it from the start against SC Cambuur last week. As a result, Jens Toornstra drops one line back to midfield. The Rotterdam derby starts at 12.15 pm and is led by referee Kevin Blom.
Last week in the away game against SC Cambuur, Slot remarkably chose to place Jahanbakhsh on the bench, leaving Toornstra as a hanging right winger and Aursnes as a controlling midfielder. “It was no reason to pass Alireza out of dissatisfaction last week,” Slot said during the closing press conference on Friday. “That was a tactical choice. But I must honestly say that it has been completed well in Leeuwarden.”
Slot already experienced the Rotterdam derby before, as a player of Sparta. “Derbies are always special,” said Slot. “But apart from the fact that it is a derby, it is also a very important match for us. And I think it is for Sparta too, if you look at the rankings. At Sparta you see the character of the trainer in the team. The harder it gets, the harder they work and the more dangerous they become. I have prepared my team for that.”
Line-up Feyenoord: Bijlow; Pedersen, Senesi, Trauner, Malacia; Kökcu, Til, Toornstra; Jahanbakhsh, Linssen, Sinisterra
Related
More sports news