Sparta Rotterdam booked a victory over Fortuna Sittard on Saturday evening. At Het Kasteel it became 3-1 for the Spaniards. The Limburgers still took the lead via Tijjani Noslin, but the Rotterdammers made up for it by goals from Arno Verschueren (twice) and Vito van Crooij. As a result, Sparta rises to sixth place in the Eredivisie, while Fortuna saw its unbeaten run of six unbeaten league games in a row come to an end. The team from Sittard is eleventh.
Sparta still had to do without the injured Jonathan de Guzmán, as a result of which his place in midfield was taken over by Joshua Kitolano. Koki Saito was also assigned a basic place by trainer Maurice Steijn, which was at the expense of Jeremy van Mullem. Shurandy Sambo was posted at right back; Dirk Abels was therefore a banker. At Fortuna, trainer Julio Velázquez chose Tijjani Noslin in his first eleven, at the expense of Umaro Embalo. Dogan Erdogan and Rodrigo Guth were also not at the kick-off. In their positions were Arianit Ferati and Dimitris Siovas respectively.
Fortuna took the lead in the 19th minute via Noslin. After a nice dribble in the box, he created space for himself and his shot with the right flew flawlessly into the far corner: 0-1. Ivo Pinto then tried with a shot into the short corner, which was saved by Nick Olij. On the other hand, it was hit. A cross from Sven Mijnans found the completely uncovered Verschueren, who sent the ball to the far corner: 1-1. Saito then tried with a shot, which Fortuna goalkeeper Ivor Pandur had no problem with. Ximo Navarro, on the other hand, was dangerous with a header from a corner, but he saw Olij make a save in the short corner. Just before half-time, Vito van Crooij had a header that could be turned by George Cox on the goal line.
Seven minutes after the break, Navarro committed a foul on Saito. Referee Serdar Gözübüyük pointed to the spot and saw Van Crooij shoot in through Pandur’s glove: 2-1. Velázquez intervened and sent Erdogan and Embalo into the field. A minute later it could have been 2-0 again, but Tobias Lauritsen shot just wide. On the other hand, Embalo went to the ground and to the fury of the Limburgers, the dot was not pointed to. Burak Yilmaz was then presented with the yellow card. In the 82nd minute, Verschueren decided the game with another header. The midfielder scored in the far corner from a free kick by Van Crooij.