In a sloppy match, Feyenoord shared the points with FC Basel (1-1). The Rotterdam team was hardly able to impress for a moment in the UEFA Cup match. Substitute Stein Huysegems was accurate for coach Erwin Koeman's team.
Phillipe Léonard finally made his debut in the first team at Feyenoord on Thursday evening. The Belgian left back, who had been struggling with a conditional deficit for a long time, was preferred to Royston Drenthe against FC Basel. The 32-year-old Red Devils international quickly played a negative role. After just twelve minutes he received a yellow card for a serious tackle.
In addition to Léonard, Dwight Tiendalli and André Bahia also made an appearance in the starting eleven in Switzerland. Tiendalli started on the bench against RKC Waalwijk last Sunday. Bahia did not play for several games due to a concussion. Trainer Koeman did not call on the slightly injured Theo Lucius and Nick Hofs at St. Jakob Park. As a result, Serginho Greene and Danny Buijs moved to midfield.
Feyenoord had a difficult time with the home team in the first twenty minutes. The people of Rotterdam brought the disaster upon themselves. Koeman's team played sloppy football and due to poor coverage, Basel's attackers regularly had free play. Fortunately for Feyenoord, the Swiss failed to create big chances. Moreover, Henk Timmer proved to be a reliable closing post in the Alpine country.
The first serious opportunity for the Kuip residents came after twenty minutes. Buijs shot wide from a cross from Jonathan de Guzman. In the remainder of the first half, Feyenoord came under reasonable pressure from Basel. In the 36th minute, Angelos Charisteas scored the opening goal. However, the Greek saw his shot from sixteen meters stopped by goalkeeper Franco Costanzo.
Even after the break, the highlights were initially few and far between. Basel, who lacked quality, mainly played opportunistically and tried to achieve success with shots from distance. After two fruitless attempts, a shot from Mladen Petric made it 1-0 after sixty minutes. Timmer was unable to process the hard shot, after which substitute Eduardo tapped in from close range.
Basel's goal did not improve Feyenoord's game at all. Nevertheless, the Rotterdam club had an opportunity to equalize through Karim Saïdi. However, the Tunisian defender headed over the crossbar. In the 76th minute, Stein Huysegems showed that Koeman also has a good hand in substitution. The Belgian substitute took advantage of a failed offside trap in a controlled manner: 1-1.
In the final phase, the efforts of both formations no longer yielded any hits. Feyenoord was fortunate that referee McDonald saw no reason to blow the whistle for a penalty when Huysegems pushed Cristiano. With the division of points, the Rotterdammers, as the underlying party, were allowed to close their hands.
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