All Dutch eyes were on PSV and Ajax in the Champions League this week – well almost all of them.
The pair of Eredivisie giants kicked off their European campaigns but both tasted defeat, one more painful than the other.
On Tuesday Dutch champions PSV were shocked 3-1 at home by Belgian outfit Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, and even key midfielder Joey Veerman couldn’t quite understand it post-match.
“I have no idea,” he said when asked why his team were so poor.
“We knew they were going to crack down, and then you give away a penalty.
“Everyone makes personal mistakes, but we have to try to fix that as a team. We tried, but we knew we had the big chances.
“Everyone has to decide [their mentality] for themselves. It seemed a bit like we were afraid to ask for the ball.
“Then you get people running with the ball, and then everything takes far too long. That wasn’t good today.”
A day later, Ajax fell to last year’s finalists, Inter Milan, with foot.mundo in attendance.
Marcus Thuram scored both of the goals in a 2-0 win for the Serie A side, with the only real highlight for the Johan Cruyff Arena being the first minutes for returning former prospect Kasper Dolberg who came off the bench to huge cheers after joining from Anderlecht.
Last season both PSV and Feyenoord made it to the last 16 of the Champions League in a huge boost for the Eredivisie.
Yet even with a disappointing start this year, the story may be elsewhere.
While all eyes were on Europe, Feyenoord were busy in the league on Wednesday night, and you’re forgiven if you didn’t notice.
Robin van Persie’s side beat Fortuna Sittard 2-0 at home at De Kuip, extending their Eredivisie league with 15 points from a possible 15.
This has only happened three times before in club history, in 1993, 2005 and 2016.
However, Van Persie can boast to be better than any of them, having only conceded one goal while scoring 11.
The only blotch on the young coach’s record is his Champions League qualifying knockout against Fenerbahce, but given what happened to the other Dutch clubs in that competition, Europa League football may well be the best case scenario after all.
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