“Shot themselves in the foot”; What the Dutch media are saying about Feyenoord vs Celtic

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The Dutch media have been reacting to the UEFA Champions League meeting between Feyenoord and Celtic.

It was a bruising start for the Hoops in Group E as we went down to a 2-0 loss to the Eredivisie champions. Goals from Calvin Stengs and Alireza Jahanbakhsh did the damage at De Kuip. It could have been a larger margin of victory too.

While the general consensus in Scotland is that it was a missed opportunity for Celtic, the Dutch view is unsurprisingly a more positive one based on Feyenoord‘s first win in the Champions League since 2017.

De Telegraaf talks about the fine details involved at the highest level of competition. They say the sprinkler system at De Kuip was turned on prior to kick-off, despite it raining most of the day in Rotterdam.

They describe Stengs’ free-kick opener as taking a “crooked bounce” on the “slippery and wet billiard cloth” of the Feyenoord pitch. That may be being kind to Joe Hart.

The outlet say that Celtic “showed from the first minute that it had Champions League experience”. Yet, the opening goal made the hosts realise that they had to “quickly throw away their hesitation” and be more fearless. It certainly worked as we lost the head.

Dutch football magazine Voetbal International talk about a “difficult first half” for Feyenoord, who had nine of their 11 starters playing their first minutes in the Champions League proper.

They say Celtic “shot themselves in the foot” in what was an even encounter. It’s hard to argue with that assessment.

Outlet 1908 pinpointed Stengs’ opener right on the brink of half time as a key moment, saying it “broke the game open”.

Rotterdam-based paper Algemeen Dagblad say that it was clear halfway through the second half that Feyenoord were going to win. “Feyenoord is capable of making eleven opponents chase the ball, let alone a team with two fewer players on the field,” was their assertion.

They say that we “tried to build up just as risky as Feyenoord”, seemingly surprised by our passing out from the back in the early stages of the match.

So overall, the Dutch media view is strangely complimentary of our first-half performance. That seems to add merit to the view that it was a real missed opportunity for us.

We won’t have a chance for revenge against the Rotterdam side until December 13.

In other news, Brendan Rodgers has his say on two Celtic red cards