Feyenoord suffered their second defeat of the season as they lost 1-0 to local rivals Sparta Rotterdam thanks to an early goal by Matthias Pogba.

The league leaders arrived at Het Kasteel full of confidence having earned a crucial 2-1 win over PSV Eindhoven last weekend. However, after less than a minute they found themselves behind as Matthias Pogba rose to head in a fine Jerson Cabral cross on 48 seconds.

Feyenoord struggled to recover from the opener and Sparta continued to create chances before the break and had a decent appeal for a penalty waved away after Paco van Moorsel appeared to be brought down by Eric Botteghin. The frustration seemed to get the better of some of Feyenoord’s stars and Tonny Vilhena was lucky to escape red after an elbow on Pogba.

After the break, Feyenoord dominated but Jens Toornstra saw his shot saved by Ryan Korsmit while Vilhena could only head off target. Last week, Feyenoord were helped by goalline technology in their win over PSV, but that was not available on Sunday and although Toornstra’s cross looked to land over the line after 77 minutes, no goal was awarded.

The hosts held on to inflict the first defeat of 2017 on Feyenoord and there lead at the top has been shortened, while Sparta move 14th.




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