Feyenoord has confirmed that Captain Quinten Timber is excluded for the rest of the season after having undergone a knee operation with a ligament injury.
Timber took the problem in Feyenoord's Champions League play-off collision against AC Milan last week, a match they won 1-0 thanks to the early goal of Igor Paixao.
In the Eredivisie this season no player has won more tackles for Feyenoord than Timber (24), while he is also the top scorer of the club in the Dutch top flight with six, after the move from Santiago Gimenez to Milan in January.
It contributes to the injury problems of interim coach Pascal Bosschaart, with eight other first team players for the match in the Siro, which makes their chances of qualifying to the last 16 of the Champions League since 1974-75.
Calvin Stengs, who was injured during Feyenoord's 3-0 win over Bayern Munich in January, has been restored and will play a role on Tuesday.
But Feyenoord has only won three of their last 17 out-matches in the Champions League (D3 L11), although two of those victories have arrived this season (3-2 V Girona and 3-1 V Benfica).
They have also lost five of their six-out matches against Italian parties in the European Cup / Champions League, which only succeed in avoiding the defeat in February 2000 V Lazio (a 2-1 win). The only one of those six games that took place in the knockout phase was indeed a 0-1 defeat against Milan in the 1969-70 campaign.
Watch out, captain …
– Feyenoord Rotterdam (@feyenoord) 17 February 2025
Despite the setbacks, Bosschaart was cheerful about the opportunities on his side at his press conference for the game.
“We all sympathize with wood, it's a shock for everyone,” he said. “But we are here with a good team.
“The same formation as last week but without wood but with Calvin Stengs. We are happy that Stengs is back in the selection. It is good for half an hour.
“We are 1-0 ahead, we are in a good position to reach the next round. AC Milan will certainly do something different than in Rotterdam.
“We also have to make plans for that, but we have prepared well. Hopefully our plan will flourish,” Bosschaart added.
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