Feyenoord coach Bosschaart reflects on ‘dream’ night at San Siro after knocking Milan out | OneFootball

Feyenoord boss Pascal Bosschaart hailed his side for what was a monumental effort to overcome AC Milan and make the Champions League last 16.

If Feyenoord thought that they were in dreamland after beating Milan at De Kuip seven days ago, that was elevated to a whole new level as they managed to see the job through and qualify.

The Rotterdam club had a huge injury list coming into the game and lost star man Santiago Gimenez to the Rossoneri towards the end of the winter window, plus Quentin Timber in the first leg.

They went behind after just 36 seconds as Gimenez scored from close range against his old club, but then Theo Hernandez’s red card totally changed the game and Julian Carranza came off the bench to score the decisive goal.

Bosschaart was present in the press conference room at San Siro after the full-time whistle to give his thoughts on what was an incredibly memorable night for the club, with his comments via MilanNews.

You celebrated a lot, and rightly so…

“We have a lot of joy. I complimented the players a lot for how they fought and for the tenacity they had.”

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You conceded a goal early and still went through…

“It wasn’t planned, obviously. The goal changed the plans and everything was much more difficult. But after the red card for Theo we dominated. And in the first half we played well too.”

Read received a red card at full-time, what happened?

“I didn’t see what happened. The referee explained to me that Read kicked the ball towards Leao, while Read said he was pushed.”

Is this a dream come true for you?

“We drew against NAC. But today I was at San Siro, it was a dream for the boys. The last week was difficult for us, there was a lot of criticism and a new coach. We saw what we can do and we did a good job in the last week.”

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

How did you experience the match?

“We played a very good match, doing everything we could to get a result here at San Siro: if you qualify here, you can be proud. We gave our players confidence: credit to everyone, including the staff.

“I didn’t sing, I went to the dressing room, afterwards I’ll celebrate in the hotel. We have a lot of injured players, but everyone who played did very well.”

Did the red for Theo Hernandez give confidence?

“No, even after the 1-0 for Milan we remained calm. They didn’t panic.”

How will you celebrate?

“Yesterday I said I would drink a beer, but maybe I’ll drink some wine or vodka.”