Feyenoord’s chances of reaching the Europa League knockout stages are hanging by a thread after a 4-0 defeat at Manchester United.
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Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side headed to Manchester with only one fit centre-back, having lost Terence Kongolo, Sven van Beek and the suspended Eric Botteghin. Wessel Dammers was handed his first start for the club, but Feyenoord’s depleted defence held their own in the opening stages as Manchester United struggled to turn their possession into clear chances.
Just before the half-hour mark, Feyenoord should have taken the lead but Rick Karsdorp was denied by Sergio Romero, who then kept out Dirk Kuyt’s rebound with a stunning save. Moments later Manchester United broke the deadlock with Wayne Rooney lifting the ball over Brad Jones after being played through by Zlatan.
The hosts dominated after the break and eventually added their second goal on 69 minutes as a sloppy pass from Renato Tapia gifted possession to Michael Carrick and a swift passing move ended with Rooney setting up Juan Mata for a tap-in. Five minutes later United made it 3-0 with a cross from Zlatan deflected into his own net by Jones.
Memphis Depay then came off the bench for United but it was another substitute who added the fourth in injury time as Jesse Lingard controlled a shot into the corner to seal the comfortable victory for the home side.
The defeat leaves Feyenoord third in the group and they now need to beat Fenerbahce at De Kuip in two weeks to have a chance of progressing to the next round.
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Well it is what it is. Winning at Old Tradford was going to be tough to begin with. But trying to do it with most of our D out was borderline impossible. But all is not lost. Beat Fener in 2 weeks and we move forward.