Champions League | Feyenoord 1-0 Milan: Maignan howler and Fab Four flop | OneFootball

Milan have a mountain to climb if they want to get into the Champions League Round of 16, as Mike Maignan’s howler gifted Feyenoord the 1-0 victory and Santiago Gimenez failed to inspire.

The Rossoneri decided to launch the Fab Four for the first time, starting Gimenez against his former club, Joao Felix, Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic together. Yunus Musah was suspended, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Emerson Royal injured, while Warren Bondo, Alex Jimenez, Riccardo Sottil and Luka Jovic are not on the UEFA list. Feyenoord surprisingly sacked coach Brian Priske two days before this match, using Pascal Bosschaaart as an interim from the youth team, with Justin Bijlow, Calvin Stengs, Ramiz Zerrouki, Gernot Trauner, Inbeom Hwang and Bart Nieuwkoop out of action.

See how it unfolded on the Liveblog.

It was the worst possible start, because after Tijjani Reijnders fired straight at the goalkeeper, Igor Paixao did the same at the other end, but this one surprised Maignan with a bobble right in front of him, squirming in at the near bottom corner. It was a dreadful howler from Maignan, not the first of the current campaign either.

Joao Felix was late getting to a Rafael Leao through ball and crashed into Timon Wellenreuther, while both Leao and Paixao had penalty appeals waved away for going down far too easily.

epa11891645 Joao Felix of AC Milan (foreground) in action against Feyenoord goalkeeper Timon Wellenreuther during the UEFA Champions League playoff first leg soccer match between Feyenoord and AC Milan, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 12 February 2025. EPA-EFE/SEM VAN DER WAL

Thomas Beelen made a decisive block on the Leao attack as he pulled the trigger from six yards, but Paixao was a constant danger down the left flank, cutting inside for a scorcher that thumped the crossbar on 37 minutes.

Rafael Leao went on a rapid counter-attack from inside his own half, but hesitated and was tackled by Givairo Read, colliding with Wellenreuther before getting a shot away.

Beelen’s header was straight at Maignan on a corner and Julian Carranza turned wide under pressure after some great footwork from Paixao in the build-up, while Reijnders hit a chest and volley over the bar.

Paixao remained a constant threat, even attempting to lob Maignan from the centre-circle, while Samuel Chukwueze blasted straight at Wellenreuther after a corner and Strahinja Pavlovic made a decisive block on the Anis Hadj Moussa counter-attack after a smart dummy.

The Joao Felix low drive from the edge of the area was well smothered, as Milan rarely tested Wellenreuther. They need to do so much better in the second leg at San Siro next Tuesday.

Feyenoord 1-0 Milan

Paixao 3 (F)