Sparta thanks an excellent debutant in Sittard and joins Ajax again

Sparta Rotterdam has resumed the competition with a win. Jeroen Rijsdijk's men were too strong for the hosts of Fortuna Sittard with a score of 0-2. The debuting Shunsuke Mito was immediately accurate. Sparta thus comes into equal points with number five Ajax, which will play against number seven Go Ahead Eagles later this weekend.

Fortuna and Sparta entered the winter break in December on different terms. The Limburgers finished with a 0-2 cup victory over FC Eindhoven, while the Rotterdammers were knocked out of the same tournament by ADO Den Haag.

For Rijsdijk and his team, the focus can therefore be completely on the Eredivisie. This also applies to Mito, Sparta's new winter acquisition.

The Japanese midfielder was acquired from Albirex Niigata and immediately made his mark on his debut. Halfway through the first act he created a lot of danger for Fortuna goalie Luuk Koopmans' goal, although without result.

Before that, both teams had already had great chances, but the scoreboard still showed two LED-lit zeros. Mito changed that after more than half an hour.

After a quick attack, the ball reached Joshua Kitolano, who sent the Japanese into the depth. Mito had already seen the gap and in one move put the score behind Koopmans: 0-1.

Fortuna was not deterred and immediately launched a counterattack. However, partly due to the excellent Nick Olij, this did not lead to a goal.

In fact, Sparta increased the margin just after halftime. Metinho, cold in the field for Mito, who was substituted as agreed, was able to tap in after preparatory work by Tobias Lauritsen.

Fortuna could no longer think of an answer to that. Even that chance, a penalty after a charge from Mike Eerdhuijzen, was not for Danny Buijs' team. Mouhamed Belkheir hit the post and that is why it remained 0-2 in Limburg. The victorious Sparta climbs from seventh to sixth place.

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