Champions League Preview: Feyenoord vs Milan – Team News, Line-ups & Prediction | OneFootball

Serie A giants Milan take a trip to Rotterdam to meet Feyenoord in the first leg of their Champions League playoff tie on Wednesday evening. It will be the first meeting between the sides since 1969/70 when the Dutch side got the better of the seven-time European champions.

Feyenoord sacked manager Brian Priske in the build-up to this fixture, appointing Pascal Bosschaart as an interim boss on Monday. Despite helping ‘De Stadionclub’ reach the Champions League knockout stages for the first time since 1984/85, Priske couldn’t save his job.

A disturbing 6-1 defeat at Lille in the final league-phase round was only part of the reason Feyenoord decided to part ways with Arne Slot’s successor. They had since lost to bitter rivals Ajax and PSV Eindhoven across league and cup competitions before stemming the bleeding last weekend.

However, a 3-0 rout of crosstown rivals Sparta Rotterdam was insufficient to salvage Priske’s career at De Kuip. Santiago Gimenez’s return to this ground is among the leading subplots as the Mexican striker swapped Feyenoord for Milan during the January transfer window for a reported fee of €32 million.

Gimenez scored on his Serie A debut last weekend, finding the net off the bench in Milan’s 2-0 victory at Empoli. He also set up Joao Felix in a 3-1 win against Roma in the Coppa Italia a week ago. As a result, he could start for Milan for the first time against his former club.

Match Preview

Feyenoord

Despite being demolished by Lille in their last Champions League outing, Feyenoord should take the field in high spirits. Unfazed by the opposition’s stature, the Dutch team thrashed runaway Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich 3-0 in their most recent European home fixture.

But Gimenez, who netted a brace in that scintillating win, is now on the opposite side. The 23-year-old could threaten Feyenoord’s incredible run of only one defeat across their last 11 encounters against Italian clubs in major European competitions (W6, D4).

Further confidence stems from Feyenoord’s dominant home form since the start of December. They have won four of their last five competitive games at De Kuip (L1), including two in the Champions League against Bayern Munich and Sparta Prague via an aggregate score of 7-2.

With each win during that sequence seeing Feyenoord score at least three goals, Milan’s porous backline could be under pressure at De Kuip.

Milan

Back-to-back domestic wins ahead of this trip helped Milan erase the memory of a dismal 2-1 defeat at Dinamo Zagreb in the league-phase finale. That result cost them automatic last-16 qualification, but they’ve still entered the knockout stages as a seeded team.

It means they’ll host the return leg, which is good news for Sergio Conceicao. Indeed, Milan haven’t won any of their last 11 Champions League knockout matches on the road (D4, L7), suggesting their hopes of reaching the round of 16 will hinge on the upcoming home performance.

However, Milan must defy recent history to leave Feyenoord in their wake after failing to beat Dutch opponents across their last four European clashes (D3, L1). Connoisseurs of action-packed football should, nonetheless, look forward to this meeting.

Milan’s last six Champions League games away from home have featured goals in both halves. Worryingly, the Rossoneri failed to keep a clean sheet in all four such matches during this season’s league phase, conceding precisely twice in the last two.

Team News

Numerous high-profile injuries have decimated Feyenoord’s squad ahead of this showdown. The hosts cannot count on Justin Bijlow, Gernot Trauner, Calvin Stengs, Chris-Kevin Nadje, Jordan Lotomba, and Ramiz Zerrouki. Furthermore, Jakub Moder and Quilindschy Hartman are in doubt.

On the other hand, Milan will take this trip without Alessandro Florenzi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and Emerson Royal. Winter signing Warren Bondo is still on the sidelines, while Yunus Musah picked up a red card against Dinamo Zagreb last time out.

Feyenoord vs Milan Potential Starting Line-ups

Feyenoord (4-3-3): Wellenreuther; Nieuwkoop, Beelen, Hancko, Hartman; Moder, Timber, Hwang; Hadj-Moussa, Ueda, Paixao.

Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Walker, Tomori, Pavlovic, Hernandez; Fofana, Reijnders; Pulisic, Felix, Leao; Gimenez.

Feyenoord vs Milan Prediction

It will be exciting to see how the new-look Milan attacking line-up will fare in their first European match. Feyenoord deserve the benefit of the doubt, but we expect the sheer firepower to prevail in this contest.