Feyenoord Vs AC Milan Prediction: Keep The Marwah De Trots Van Zuid In De Kuip

Igor Paix Badminton, a sharp striker of Feyenord to watch out for (photo: x @Feyenoord)

JAKARTA - Feyenoord will host AC Milan at the De Kuip Stadium in the first leg of the Champions League playoffs on Wednesday, February 12, 2025. This is a historic moment for Feyennoord, who for the first time in 40 years managed to reach the knockout stages of Europe's most prestigious competition.

Meanwhile, AC Milan, as the holder of seven Champions League titles, has a big ambition to advance further in this tournament, although their trip this season is fairly challenging. The winner of this duel will face Arsenal or Inter Milan in the round of 16.

Feyenoord has performed outstanding in the Champions League league league phase this season, ranking 19th from 24 teams that qualified for the knockout stages. One of their most surprising wins was when they beat Bayern Munich with a landslide score of 3-0. In addition, De Trots van Zuid also managed to hold Manchester City to a 3-3 draw in a dramatic away match.

However, Feyenoord's journey was not completely smooth. They suffered a crushing 1-6 defeat to Lille, and lost at home to Bayer Leverkusen and Red Bull Salzburg. This shows that although Feyennoord had good attack power, their defense was still quite fragile.

In the domestic competition, Feyenoord had a difficult time. The defeat at Der Klassieker against Ajax and their elimination from KNVB Beker by PSV Eindhoven showed that they were not in their best form. In fact, they had four games without a win before finally beating Sparta Rotterdam 3-0 last weekend.

On the other hand, AC Milan also did not appear consistent in Serie A. They are currently only in seventh place, far from expectations as the main competitor to the Scudetto. However, a 2-0 win over Empoli in Serie A and Roma's 3-1 win over the Coppa Italia became a positive asset for Sergio Conceicao's squad.

In the Champions League, Milan almost secured a position in the last eight after a valuable win over Real Madrid. However, the defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the final match of the group phase made them drop and had to go through the playoffs.

The negative record for Milan is their away record in the knockout stages of the Champions League. The Rossoneri have never won in their last 11 away games in the knockout round, scoring only three goals in the last 10 games.

However, Milan had a pretty good record against the Dutch team. Their last win over the Eredivisie club took place in 2008. If they could repeat that success, Milan would have a big advantage over the second leg at the San Siro.

Feyenoord coach Brian Priske faced several obstacles in the selection of players. Justin Bijlow's main goalkeeper is still injured, so Timo Wellenreuther will be trusted again under the bar. In addition, Calvin Stengs, Chris-Kevin Nadje, and Ramiz Zerrouki are also still on the list of injuries.

However, there is good news for Feyenoord with the return of left-back Quilindschy Hartman from a long injury. In addition, the new recruitment of Jakub Moder has also been registered for the knockout stages of the Champions League, and is likely to play in midfield.

On the front lines, Igor Paixao became a key player. He recorded four assists in the group stage, only losing to Charles De Ketelaere in terms of the number of assists. Paixao is likely to play with Ayase Ueda or Julian Carranza in the formation of the Feyenoord attack.

For Milan, this match became an emotional moment for Santiago Gimenez. The Mexican striker has just moved from Feyenoord to AC Milan in the January transfer window, and is now returning to De Kuip to face his former club.

Coach Sergio Conceicao also has a number of players who have to miss. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Emerson Royal, and Alessandro Florenzi (knee injury) certainly cannot appear. Meanwhile, midfielder Yunus Musah had to undergo suspension.

However, Milan has made several important signings in winter, including Joao Felix, Kyle Walker, and Riccardo Sottil. Of the three names, only Walker and Felix were registered for the Champions League and could appear against Feyennoord.

Christian Pulisic is one of the players to watch out for in this match. The United States player scored four goals in the group stage, making him the American player with the most goals in a Champions League season.

This match is predicted to be fierce, considering both teams have a sharp enough force of attack. Feyenoord has the advantage of playing at home, but they have to improve their defense if they want to achieve a positive result.

Meanwhile, AC Milan will rely on their experience in European competitions as well as individual qualities such as Pulisic, Leao, and Gimenez to steal valuable away goals.

Seeing the performance of the two teams, the draw with a score of 2-2 seems quite realistic. Feyenoord is likely to appear aggressive from the start, but Milan have the capacity to respond with their quick counter-attack.

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

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

Final prediction: Feyenoord 2-2 AC Milan