UCL Report and quotes: Priske delighted as Feyenoord beat Sparta Prague 4-2 | OneFootball

Feyenoord romped past Sparta Prague with a consummate 4-2 win on Tuesday night to keep themselves firmly within the Champions League playoff places heading into the festive break. With two games to come in the League Phase, the Rotterdam side have set themselves up well for their final fixtures against Bayern Munich and LOSC Lille in January.

Gernot Trauner raised the decibels in De Kuip as he opened the scoring with a powerful header into the turf in the eighth minute. Then, just two minutes later, Igor Paixao went for an adventurous run through the heart of Sparta’s midfield before brilliantly driving one inside the right post from range. Anis Hadj Moussa saw this attempt and took it personally – sending home a third on the half-hour mark with an exquisite left-footed curler as he cut back from the right flank.

Although Kosovan striker Albion Rrahmani slid in smartly on 42′ to break up the home side’s personal goal competition, his effort as well as a late own goal from Thomas Beelen were mere afterthoughts – especially considering the crowning Feyenoord glory which was Santiago Gimenez’s poaching finish just past the hour.

Current Feyenoord and former Sparta Prague boss Brian Priske was euphoric after his side’s display. Before the match, he spoke about his team wanting to give the supporters something special and on Wednesday night they succeeded.

“I can’t praise them enough.”

“I praised them for their performance tonight and the victory. Getting ten points in the Champions League is not easy. It was an important game. (…) Sometimes we had to concede a few chances. We have already discussed that. We sometimes give away goals too easily. (It was) something we could have done better today, but that is also Dutch football.”

Feyenoord are now 18th in the 36-team table, with a record of W3 D1 L2. Speaking of tweaking with the game plan, the Dane continued, “I would have liked to stick to our tactics, because they worked well. However, Smal suffered an injury and Nieuwkoop suffered from cramp. Then you have to make changes and I would rather not have done that.”

Concluding on a high regarding his side’s clean sheet and qualification, he said: “It is important to get some clean sheets. More goals could have helped us today, but I am not in a position to be critical now. (…) I don’t think we have qualified yet. It is a tough competition, especially because of the new format. We have to stay humble.”

GBeNeFN | Max Bradfield