Cyriel Dessers grabbed a crucial equalizer for Feyenoord on his return from injury. Super Eagles hopeful Cyriel Dessers marked his return from injury with a key goal against Grongenin in the Dutch Eredivisie. Dessert had missed his team’s last two outings due to a slight knock he picked up.
From the very first minutes, Feyenoord looked the better team, with early waves of attack, but the Groningen defenders remained resolute.
After the initial pressure subsided, Feyenoord was hit with a sucker punch in the 23rd minute. Michael de Leeuw found himself on the end of a great pass from Bjorn Meijer, and the forward converted his chance to give Groningen the lead.
The first half drew to a tame conclusion as neither team took the initiative to score.
Feyenoord came out of the dressing room fired up and whatever Arne Slot told his men seemed to work.
Guus Thill thought his effort was in the back of the net, but the Groningen keeper made an unexpected save.
In the 55th minute, Slot decided to reshuffle his deck and took off former Brighton forward Alireza Jahanbakhsh and brought on Cyriel Dessers.
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The decision to play more attacking football almost paid immediate dividends when in the 60th minute Luis Sinisterra powered an emphatic header on target, but once again, the Groningen keeper was up to the task.
Despite his impressive saves, the visiting goalkeeper had no answers in the 71st minute when Feyenoord finally got their goal. Substitute Cyriel Dessers rose the highest to score a good header from Fredrik Aursnes’ cross.
With that goal, Dessers is now the second player ever to score five goals for Feyenoord after coming on as a substitute in a single Eredivisie season, after József Kiprich in 1992/93.
Feyenoord was unable to grab a winner despite their dominance in the second half, and the game ended as a draw.
This result leaves Feyenoord in second place behind AJax on the Eredivisie table. Dessers and co will now prepare for their midweek trip to Belgrade to face Partizan in the Europa Conference League.
