Feyenoord lose 0-2 in first leg of UEFA Champions League last 16 tie with Internazionale
Feyenoord have an uphill battle to qualify for the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League after they were defeated 0-2 by Internazionale in De Kuip on Wednesday. An injury plagued Feyenoord team were comfortably beaten due to goals from Marcus Thuram and Lautaro Martinez. The second leg will be played next week in Milan.
A concerning issue for Feyenoord seems to be their inability to score or create chances. Robin Van Persie’s side also failed to score against NEC Nijmegen last weekend in a 0-0 draw.
Van Persie went with Ibrahim Osman at the left wing position for his first Champions League match as manager. Jeyland Mitchell began the match in the right back position making his first start for the club.
It was a scene for the big occasion for the Rotterdammers. A musical quartet played songs for the crowd to sing along to and fans threw tifo before the match.
Van Persie’s side made a decent start to the match. Osman was escaping the attention of Oranje international Denzel Dumfries’ regularly in the first 15 minutes resulting in several corners for the home side.
Dumfries was one of two Oranje internationals in the Inter side, along with Stefan de Vrij, who was facing his former team. De Vrij played 135 games for the Rotterdammers over five seasons.
Inter took the lead in the 38th minute. A strong cross from Nicolo Barella was acrobatically finished by Marcus Thuram for his second goal in the Champions League this season.
Inter’s other striker, Lautaro Martinez, got the team’s second goal in the 50th minute. Alessandro Bastoni did very well on the wing before finding Piotr Zielinski. His shot was blocked initially, but it came back to the Polish midfielder. He then picked out Martinez, who hit it hard and high into the near corner to make it 0-2.
Feyenoord’s only significant chance of the match came in the 63rd minute. Osman dribbled past De Vrij before his cross was slid over the goal via the crossbar by Jakub Moder.
Inter were given the chance to put the tie to bed when they were awarded a penalty in the 63rd minute. The referee judged that Mitchell had fouled Thuram in the box. However, Zielinski’s penalty was saved by Feyenoord keeper Timon Wellenreuther.
Feyenoord gave their all in the match but they clearly lacked a degree of quality to trouble the organized Internazionale defence. They will now travel to Milan hoping for a repeat of the last match there, when they knocked out AC Milan.
