Feyenoord are in Serbia on Thursday to face FK Partizan in the first leg of their Europa Conference League last 16 tie. The kick-off is at 17.45.

Feyenoord eased to the last 16 of the competition after breezing through their group that contained Maccabi Haifa, Slavia Prague, and German side Union Berlin. Standing between Arne Slot’s side and a place in the quarter-finals is Serbian side FK Partizan.

After finishing second in their league last season, Partizan had to get through three rounds of qualifying before they made the group stages. They finished second in a group with Gent, Flora and Anorthosis Famagusta. They then defeated Sparta Prague home and away to set up the tie with Feyenoord.

Feyenoord go into the game on the back of two poor results in the Eredivisie, with a 2-1 loss to AZ Alkmaar followed by a 1-1 draw at home to Groningen.

FK Partizan defeated Spartak Subotica 1-0 at the weekend to maintain their lead at the top of the Serbian league.

Team News

Guus Til and Patrick Walemark are suspended for the first-leg in Serbia, while Philippe Sandler is still not with the squad.

Slot will need to decide whether Jorrit Hendrix or Jens Toornstra comes into the midfield to replace Til. Bryan Linssen is likely to start up front over Cyril Dessers.

Possible Feyenoord line-up: Bijlow, Geertruida, Malacia, Treuner, Senesi, Aursnes, Kokcu, Hendrix, Sinisterra, Jahanbakhsh, Linssen

Partizan goes into the game without top scorer and key player Ricardo Gomes due to suspension, but Dutch winger Queensy Menig should start.

Possible Partizan line-up: Popovic; Miletic, Vujacic, Sanicanin, Urosevic; Jojic, Zdjelar; Markovic, Natcho, Menig; Terzic

Odds

Partizan 13/5 Draw 21/10 Feyenoord 6/5

Can Feyenoord return to Rotterdam with a victory?

Feyenoord have just hit a sticky patch in the league and will need to raise their form for the trip to the Serbian league leaders.

The hosts will be without their key man Ricardo Gomes for the first leg and that is a boost for Feyenoord, who should be looking to return to the Netherlands with at least a draw to put themselves within touching distance of the last eight.

This is a competition that Feyenoord should be thinking about possibly winning and they should be too strong for Partizan over two legs.




admin (14798 Posts)

Follow @Footballoranje_ on Twitter