Thursday, May 13, 2021 at 4:24 PM• Dominic Mostert • Last update: 16:38

Vitesse has assured itself of participation in European football on Thursday. The Arnhemmers drew 3-3 at Fortuna Sittard and saw competitor Feyenoord stumble at Heracles Almelo (1-1) at the same time. Because of Feyenoord’s defeat, Vitesse was also certain of fourth place in a loss, but deep in injury time, Loïs Openda made the equalizer. Vitesse secured fourth place and participation in the third qualifying round of the Europa Conference League. Fortuna only has a theoretical chance of participating in the play-offs for European football.

Within a minute it was already hit for Fortuna. Mats Seuntjens bounced the ball from midfield over the defense of Vitesse and found Ben Rienstra, who looked to place the ball over Remko Pasveer who had come out. Riechedly Bazoer touched the ball, however, and Pasveer had no chance: 1-0. It was the earliest deficit for Vitesse since January 23, 2016, when current Vitessenaar Riechedly Bazoer scored after 26 seconds as a player for Ajax.

A few minutes later, the keeper prevented the accompanying defender Lazaros Rota from making it 2-0. Vitesse did not need long to get back into the game. A header from Oussama Tannane flew over, but Sondre Tronstad made it 1-1 by heading from a corner from Tannane. However, Vitesse needed a win to be sure of European football and so looked for a lead. That came through Riechedly Bazoer: the defender scored the 1-2 after a combination with Tannane.

Fortuna, however, did not give up and came alongside a few minutes before half-time, when Zian Flemming took the ball with him on half of Vitesse and diagonally shot into the right corner from the edge of the penalty area. Eight minutes after the break, Fortuna completed the comeback: Flemming pulled in from the right flank and fired a low shot, which Pasveer misjudged: 3-2. It was already his sixth goal of the season from outside the penalty area; only Steven Berghuis from Feyenoord made more (seven). Openda headed against the post just before time, so that the 3-3 seemed to be missed, but in the fifth minute of injury time he decided otherwise.

No. Team M. W. G. V. +/- Pnt
1 Ajax 33 27 4 2 77 85
2 PSV 33 21 8 4 39 71
3 AZ 33 20 8 5 29 68
4 Vitesse 33 18 7 8 16 61
5 Feyenoord 33 15 11 7 25 56
6 FC Utrecht 33 13 13 7 11 52
7 Fc Groningen 33 14 8 11 4 50
8 Sparta Rotterdam 33 12 8 13 0 44
9 Heracles Almelo 33 12 8 13 -6 44
10 Fortuna Sittard 33 12 5 16 -7 41
11 sc Heerenveen 33 9 12 12 -5 39
12 FC Twente 33 9 11 13 -3 38
13 PEC Zwolle 33 8 11 14 -10 35
14 RKC Waalwijk 33 7 9 17 -19 30
15 Willem II 33 7 7 19 -29 28
16 FC Emmen 33 6 9 18 -32 27
17 VVV Venlo 33 6 5 22 -44 23
18 Ado den Haag 33 4 10 19 -46 22

Date:Thursday 13 May 2021, 2:30 PM

Stadium:Fortuna Sittard Stadium (Sittard)

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