STURM GRAZ – FEYENOORD | Thursday 9pm
We are in the Lazio group, the one where everything is still possible when there is only one week left in the group stage. Four teams tied on five points on the eve of matchday five: unbelievable but true. The Dutch team Feyenoord are leading the standings, but only because they currently have a better goal difference than the others (even if, in the end, direct matches are taken into account). The formation coached by Arne Slot, finalist of the last Conference League, is the one that has scored the most goals, twelve, half of which came in the resounding 6-0 victory over Sturm Graz a month ago. That, however, remains Feyenoord’s only noteworthy performance, having been defeated by Lazio on their debut and unable to go beyond a draw – it ended 2-2 in the first leg and also in the return – in the double-header against Danish side Midtjylland.
Now Kokcu and his team-mates, who have not lost in the Eredivisie for five rounds, travel to Austria with confidence, but they will have to watch out for the thirst for revenge of Sturm Graz, fresh from two draws against Lazio, who were stopped both at the Merkur Arena and at the Olimpico. Matches, those with the biancocelesti, which showed that the setback against Feyenoord was an accident and nothing more. Sturm Graz are also doing well in the league and last weekend they blocked the run of the highly favoured Salzburg, who otherwise would have already gone into the break. Feyenoord, on the other hand, came from a 1-1 draw with Fortuna Sittard.
The sensational first leg result
The Prediction
The conditions seem to be in place for a more balanced match than the first leg, even if we consider Feyenoord to be slightly ahead of the Austrians. There will certainly be no shortage of goals, which is a constant when the Dutch are involved: the total is likely to be at least three in the end.
The Sturm Graz-Feyenoord matchday squad
- STURM GRAZ (4-3-3): Siebenhandl; Dante, Wuthrich, Affengruber, Gazibegovic; Prass, Stankovic, Hierlander; Horvat, Boving, Emegha.
- FEYENOORD (4-3-3): Bijlow; Hancko, Rasmussen, Trauner, Pedersen; Kokcu, Timber, Geertruida; Szymanski, Danilo, Jahanbakhsh.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-2