Breaking Europa League News: Gent defeat Feyenoord 2-0, 2-1 on aggregate
The Belgian club K.A. A. Gent produced a major stunner on the Dutch heavy weights Feyenoord as the Eredivisie league club plummeted to a 2-0 defeat in the 2nd leg of the Europa League qualification stages.
Feyenoord had defeated Gent with the help of a lone goal at their home ground Feijenoord Stadion, also known as the Kuip but at the home ground of Gent, Jules Ottenstadion they were the ones who came out as the victors.
The Spanish referee Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez blew the whistle on a cloudy weather prediction at Jules Ottenstadion, to a comparatively smaller house than the one at the Kuip.
After Feyenoord won the first leg at home 1-0, the Belgian team headed by manager Francky Dury had a plan in his mind. Dury, known for his intellect, the 52 year old manager had earlier told that he had made a couple of tactical changes in his game play and it would be a surprise for his fans.
The changes certainly worked as there was a clear dominance shown by the Belgian club on field. This was the first encounter between the Juplier League team Gent and the Eredivisie league team Feyenoord.
It was predicted that the one having a much better team on paper than Gent would win the match, after all they had finished 4th in the Dutch League last season. Nonetheless, blame it on away pressure or the team’s new changes, Feyenoord presented an extremely poor game that did not tally up to their standards.
The team seemed lethargic and barely picked up the pace to bring on successful assaults and when they did they usually seemed half hearted.
Gent on the other hand are a team that are quickly rising and progressing up the echelons in football. Last season they came 2nd in their home league; Belgian Pro League. Having a less star studded team their players did lack in great names but came back up in chemistry.
The Feyenoord manager Mario Been seemed quite confident before the match of a sure victory but that were not his words after the match where all he could do was praise Gent for their extra ordinary performance.
Gent drew first blood with their 20 year old Ivory Coast star, Yaya Soumahoro. The young player had arrived at the Belgian club this season and so far has had 2 appearances for Gent and has scored a lone goal till now.
The 34th minute goal by Soumahoro was continued by a major battle in the midfield and that lead the tempo of the game to a much slower pace. That was eventually how the first half ended.
The beginning of the 2nd half was some what energetic and it seemed that Feyenoord’s manager, Been had taught his men some new tricks. After some agonizingly close attempts at scoring Feyenoord were ready with an extra forward to utilize the opportunity to score to it maximum potential.
Though the club made progress and showed a better game in the 2nd half, a mistake lead them in a deficit of 2 goals in the 61st minute as the 30 year old Senegalese striker Elimane Coulibaly placed the ball in the back of the net making the fans go wild.
Coulibaly has been another successful signing for Gent since last season. He has scored 11 goals in 27 caps for Gent since 2009. The forward is expected to bring some of his magic in the European competitions so that the Belgian club can now bring back some major glory home.
After the goal, the match continued in the same fashion and though Gent got fewer opportunities to score a goal majorly because of a hyped defence by Feyenoord they were able to manage a few more attempts to score a goal till the end of the match however they were unsuccessful in scoring.
Feyenoord tried to score a goal till the referee blew the final whistle but the end result of the match remained 2-0 as the Gent received a much deserved victory.
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