Feyenoord after beating Benfica feeling good about the fight on the scale of Johan Cruyff against PSV | Johan Cruyff scale

The first half had come close on Sunday afternoon, when Santiago Jimenez made it 2-0 for Feyenoord against Benfica with a clever through ball from Quilindschi Hartmann. And fans think that should be celebrated. His name resonated powerfully through the sold-out Kuip. The message that went off: With the Mexican beloved by the Legionnaires back in attack, the season can now really begin for the Rotterdam club.

Jimenez. There have been a lot of rumors about Feyenoord’s top scorer last season in recent weeks. After the Gold Cup, which was a huge success for him and his country, will he stay in Rotterdam? Yes, director Dennis T. Close said that recently during boot camp in Austria. Indeed, according to T Clusy, this important striker will become even more important to Arne Slott’s squad this season. And on Sunday afternoon, he provided the first evidence of that by scoring a superb mark, even though the Mexican looked offside.

In terms of strikers, this season seems to be de Kuip’s mustache. If only because the official presentation of Ayase Ueda is also expected this week. Since this weekend, an agreement has been reached with Cercle Brugge, the club for which the Japanese side scored 22 goals last season.

Still without Ueda and without Gernot Trauner, appointed as the new first-choice captain, Feyenoord made a trustworthy impression against Orkon Kokcu’s Benfica. Before Jimenez’s 1-0 victory, which started in the 45th minute, Igor Baixao had already scored the opening goal. The winger punished the loss of the ball by former Feyenoord player Fredrik Ursnes as beautifully as he did professionally. In the second half, in which almost nothing happened and plenty of changes were made on both sides, Petar Musa made it 2-1 for Benfica in the final phase.

The season for Feyenoord will officially start next Friday. At Kuip, PSV is the opponent in the battle for Johan Cruyff’s scale. It is highly questionable whether Luka Ivanosek’s intended offensive reinforcement will be present in the slot selection. There is no agreement yet with his current club, Dinamo Zagreb.

“It’s strange to play such a match,” Kokjo said afterwards to the camera. Aspen. “Of course I know the patterns by heart. I know what they’ll do. You know they provoke you into making a triangle, but it was difficult to convey that to the people in front of you. I now realize how difficult it was to play against us last season. But Feyenoord is now a thing of the past for me.” I now have to find my feet in Benfica as soon as possible.

Kökçü admitted a few weeks later that he was already a huge fan of Benfica. “If I have to be honest, Benfica is a much bigger club, when I look at the interest and the fans. At Benfica everything is fine.” Next stage In reality. It is said that the Portuguese league is lower than the English Premier League, but I haven’t experienced that yet. But I feel Benfica is a very big club.

After that, Jimenez briefly looked back on winning the Gold Cup with Mexico. “It was a very nice adventure. I enjoyed it, especially because I scored the winning goal in the final. After that I was able to rest for a week and clear my head. I have a lot of goals for this season. We want to defend the title. We have enough quality for that in this “The choice. I’m ready to get back on track after a short break. I can’t promise you I’ll stay, but with my mind and heart I’m here. I love the fans,” said the Mexican striker, who scored 23 goals in 45 games last season. His contract with Feyenoord runs until mid-May Year 2026.