Feyenoord advance in the Champions League despite 6-1 hammering by Lille
Feyenoord was handed a heavy defeat by OSC Lille in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday. The Rotterdammers lost the last game of the league phase 6-1 in France. Brian Priske’s side finished within the first 24 spots and qualified for the playoff round despite this.
Santiago Gimenez scored in the first half to level the match for Feyenoord, who scored three own-goals in total in the game. The result means that Feyenoord has a 50 percent chance of drawing PSV in the next round.
Priske’s side made a poor start to the game. Lille could have broken the deadlock in the third minute, and the Rotterdammers did not heed the warning as the home team took the lead a minute later. Remy Cabella played a through ball to Osame Sahraoui, whose finish was perfect from a difficult angle into the far corner.
The Rotterdammers equalized in the 14th minute. A corner by Aniss Hadj Moussa found a completely unmarked Gernot Trauner. His header was knocked into the goal by Santiago Gimenez.
It was Gimenez’s last noteworthy contribution as the star striker was forced off with an injury just before the half-hour mark. He was replaced by Ayase Ueda. This will be a corner for Brian Priske as the Rotterdammers have the match against their arch-rivals Ajax on Sunday.
This came a minute before Lille missed a significant chance to take the lead. A cross by Dutch left-back Mitchell Bakker was perfect for Cabella, but his header went far wide of the goal.
Feyenoord’s injury problems worsened further later in the half as goalkeeper Justin Bijlow was forced off with an injury. He was replaced by Timon Wellenreuther.
This wasn’t the last disappointing development of the half for Feyenoord as they also went into halftime 2-1 down. Bakker played the ball onto Sahraoui, whose cross was knocked into the Feyenoord goal by Trauner after Wellenreuther had come out of his goal.
Lille made it 3-1 in the 56th minute. A corner was taken short and played back to Angel Gomes, and the England international dribbled past Ayase Ueda before his cross was deflected into the goal by David Hancko, who had made a slide tackle in an attempt to block the cross.
It was 4-1 in the 74th minute. A sliced shot by Ayyoub Bouaddi, fortunately, came to the feet of Lille’s topscorer Jonathan David. The Canadian showed why he has eight goals in 12 matches in the Champions League this season by calmly dribbling past two defenders before finishing strongly, giving Wellenreuther no chance.
It was getting worse and worse for Feyenoord as the home team made it 5-1 two minutes later. Sahraoui seemed to be offside at first glance, but this turned out to be the case. The former Heerenveen winger’s cross across the box was deflected into the net by Trauner, who, therefore, finished the game with an assist and two own goals.
Lille got one more before the end of the game. Sahraoui was playing a terrific match, and he created another goal. The Moroccan Norwegian winger lobbed the ball over Wellenreuther to the far post, where Cabella was unmarked to head home.
It was a severe back down to earth result for Feyenoord. Their last match was the 3-0 win against Bayern Munich a week ago.
The Rotterdammers advanced to the play-off phase despite this result. They finished 19th out of the 36 teams. The draw to find out their next opponent is on Friday. They will face their compatriots PSV or Juventus in the next round.
