The Roman feat seems to be standing after a campaign in the Netherlands: Feyenoord kept its strength in the Europa League, but let live the legions that will regroup in the Olympic Stadium within the Europa Play-offs League.
A 1-1 draw between Feyenoord and Roma in the first leg leaves many doubts about which team will be able to advance to the next round in the second most prestigious tournament on the old continent, and also about the true status of the Mexican Santi Giménez.
The former Cruz Azul player entered the match in the 63rd minute to take Ueda’s place. He tried a bicycle kick and took a powerful cross shot in the area that ran into goalkeeper Svilar. The Mexican tried by every means at his disposal to shake off his bad streak and, in the process, give his team a little more hope of eliminating the Italians from the Europa League.
Feyenoord seemed to have control of the game at least in the first half. Arne Slot’s men began to force the Romans to centralize their attack and made them forget that, in football, there are also gangs. That was exactly what the Dutch squad wanted, at least in the first instance.
Despite the physical effort, Feyenoord continued without scoring in the match, while all of Rotterdam began to question the possibilities of the Buenos Aires team. But the blow of the local squad came at the right time: Igor Paixao opened the scoring just seconds from the whistle that sent the game to rest.
Those led by Danielle de Rossi were patient for the second half, their lukewarm attempts were seasoned with a little more confidence when advancing lines, although the prize of the tie came almost by chance, with a bad header from Lukaku at 67′ that ended up on the networks to the disbelief of locals and strangers.
The suspense remains intact after the first of the two meetings between Feyenoord and Roma that will have its climax next Thursday, February 22 in the Italian capital.