“We didn’t play a great game, but we didn’t have to lose here,” said Feyenoord coach Arne Slot after the 1-0 defeat at Sturm Graz in the Europa League. After a good first half, Feyenoord conceded in the second half and Otar Kiteishvili scored well into added time.

“I’m disappointed and frustrated and angry about this last moment,” said Slot. “You lose because of a set piece situation. A draw would have been an acceptable result. Then we would still have a reasonable starting position. Now this starting position is very bad.”

(Great) Victory Necessity

The Rotterdam team need to win against Lazio next week and a big win, due to Lazio’s 4-2 win in Rome, is also needed depending on the result at FC Midtjylland – Sturm Graz.

“My teams always go out there to win,” says Slot. “We’ll try again next week with De Kuip behind us. Lazio are a good team but they drew here too and lost in Midtjylland.

Feyenoord captain Kökcü is disappointed

Feyenoord captain Orkun Kökcü also thought his team shouldn’t have lost. “If you concede dangerous chances from set pieces almost every game, you create them yourself,” the captain said to Veronica.

“We create chances, but not very big chances either, you can’t blame anyone for that,” said Kökcü about the missed chances.

“When you’re effective, you go into the second half differently, maybe with a lead. Now they smell a chance and you get them right out of a stoppage-time set piece. We really have to work on that if we want to win games, or at least not lose them.”