Feyenoord and Lazio are familiar with each other on the continental stage after being drawn together in the group stage of last season’s UEFA Europa League. They shared one win each, both succeeding on home turf and Feyenoord would welcome a repeat of that 1-0 victory again here as they bid to reach the knockout phase in what is their first appearance at this stage of the Champions League (UCL) since 2017/18.
The hosts come into the game in third spot in Group E (W1, L1), but a win would see them leapfrog their Italian visitors who sit one point and one place above them. Two domestic wins to nil since their 3-2 defeat on the road against Atlético Madrid will have been the response manager Arne Slot would have wanted from his side, while the victory against the Eagles here last season contributed to a record of just one home defeat from nine against Serie A sides (W5, D3), so confidence in the home dressing room should be high.
That’ll be further heightened as Dutch sides have had a hold over Lazio in more recent times. Lazio’s home success over their hosts last season was their only win against an Eredivisie outfit in their five matches against such opponents (D1, L3). Although that’s a potential psychological disadvantage for Lazio to overcome, they did break one negative trend last time out in European action when their 2-1 success at Celtic ended a run of ten away UCL matches (group stage to final) without victory.
That success, plus the 1-1 draw at home to Atlético, extended Lazio’s record at the group stage of Europe’s premium competition to no loss in eight (W3, D5). With four wins from their last five matches this season as a result (L1), netting 2+ goals in each, Maurizio Sarri’s side are in great form to grab another big win on the road here.
Players to watch: Feyenoord’s Calvin Stengs opened the scoring in Saturday’s 4-0 win, making it ten goal contributions in nine competitive games (G4, A6). Lazio’s Taty Castellanos has registered three goal contributions across his last two matches (G1, A2), having managed zero in his opening seven matches since joining the club from Girona in the summer.
Hot stat: Including their late winner against Celtic, four of Lazio’s last five competitive matches have produced a goal on or after the 75th minute.
