Feyenoord battled back to draw 1-1 with 10-man AC Milan and secure their passage into the Champions League last 16 with a 2-1 aggregate win.
The Dutch club fielded their youngest ever starting XI in a Champions League match, with an average age of 23 years and 258 days, but they got the job done thanks to a 73rd-minute goal from substitute Julian Carranza.
Milan raced in front after just 36 seconds at San Siro on Tuesday, with Santiago Gimenez heading in against his former club.
Yet Theo Hernandez’s red card early in the second half – which came when he received a second yellow for simulation – gave Feyenoord plenty of hope.
And they took their chance with both hands, as Carranza headed home from Hugo Bueno’s delivery.
A fracas at the final whistle saw Feyenoord’s Givairo Read and Milan forward Rafael Leao sent off.
Not that it will matter to Pascal Bosschaart’s team, who will face Inter or Arsenal in the last 16.
3 – Julián Carranza became the third Argentinian player to score a Champions League goal for Feyenoord, after Julio Ricardo Cruz (6) and Mariano Bombarda (1), no nation outside of the Netherlands (13) has supplied more CL goalscorers for the club than Argentina. Destined. pic.twitter.com/6gHEcbtP3W
— OptaJohan (@OptaJohan) February 18, 2025
Data Debrief: Sucker punch
Gimenez netted five times in as many Champions League appearances for Feyenoord earlier this season, and the Mexico international became the first player to score for and against the same team in a single campaign in the competition.
Milan could not build on his quickfire opener, though, which was Milan’s third-fastest goal in a Champions League match, after Clarence Seedorf vs Schalke in September 2005 (21 seconds) and Alexandre Pato vs Barcelona in September 2011 (24 seconds).
The Rossoneri finished with 18 shots to Feyenoord’s six and created chances worth 1.14 expected goals, yet could not find that decisive second before Carranza made the difference with the visitors’ only attempt on target.
Feyenoord will play in the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time in their history, while Milan have suffered a knockout defeat to a Dutch club in the competition for the first time since losing to Ajax in the 1994-95 final.
