Go Ahead Eagles fall just short in Europa League opener against FCSB
Go Ahead Eagles suffered a setback in the start of their first UEFA Europa League campaign on Thursday, losing 1-0 at home to Romanian side FCSB. An early goal from the visitors proved enough as the club from Deventer struggled to find the net despite a majority share of the possession.
Go Ahead manager Melvin Boel made zero changes to the team that beat PEC Zwolle 2-0 in the IJsselderby on Sunday. It was the team’s first game in a main stage of a European competition in the club’s history. The club qualified for the competition by winning the KNVB Cup last season.
It was a slow start for the home team. FCSB were dominating the first 10 minutes, forcing goalkeeper Jari de Busser into three early saves.
Despite this, Go Ahead had a huge chance to take the lead in the 11th minute. A long ball from De Busser dropped fortunately for Victor Edvardsen, and his pass sent Mathis Suray into a one-on-one situation with the FCSB keeper Ștefan Târnovanu. Suray’s finish lacked the placement it required, and Târnovanu was able to save.
This proved costly as the Romanians took the lead two minutes later. A chip into the box by Denis Alibec was placed into the corner by David Miculescu.
Suray was given another significant chance to score Go Ahead’s first goal in European football five minutes later. Jakob Breum did well to find the Belgian winger in plenty of space, but once again, his finish was insufficient.
Boel’s team was starting to get more into the game at this point, with the crowd at the Adelaarshorst roaring them on. A free kick routine also resulted in a chance to level the scoring in the 30th minute. Breum passed a deep free kick into the box to Edvardsen, who had made the run, and received the ball after a smart block from Mats Deijl, but the Dane’s finish was over the goal.
This was not the final chance of the half. A free kick from FCSB’s most impressive player in the first half, Darius Olaru, found center back Mihai Popescu, but his header went over the goal.
Go Ahead finished the game with 73 percent possession. Which is higher than all of the 244 games the club has played in the Eredivisie this century, according to OPTA.
Despite this, they were unable to create anything of note in the second half. Breum forced Târnovanu into a save early in the half, and the team had an appeal for a penalty waved away, but all in all, Boel’s team came up just short.
The issue for Go Ahead is that this was likely the easiest game that Boel’s side will have in the Europa League this season. Their remaining games are against Panathinaikos, Aston Villa, RB Salzburg, VFB Stuttgart, Olympique Lyonnais, OGC Nice, and Braga.
