Feyenoord, one of the most successful Dutch clubs in history, seems to have finally awoken again to challenge for European honours.
After their hard-fought draw against Marseille in the UEFA Europa Conference League semi-final last time out, they managed to knock out one of the most exciting young French sides out there, after beating them 3-2 in the first-leg.
They are now heading to the final of the competition, facing AS Roma, possibly one of the toughest sides they have met in the tournament so far.
Feyenoord have a brilliant history in European football, having won the European Cup (or UEFA Champions League) in 1969-70, as well as two UEFA Cups (or UEFA Europa League) first in 1973-74 and then n 2001-02.
Arne Slot was only appointed manager of the club last summer, and since then he has taken his side up a level in terms of quality, especially through players like Luis Sinisterra, Tyrell Malacia, Guus Til and Orkun Kökcü, who have all been key players in his gameplan.
Slot preferably likes to play with a 4-2-3-1 like he did at his previous club AZ Alkmaar, having strict possession-based principles, that have adapted very well since joining Feyenoord.
Feyenoord's key attributes include their excellent link-up play and positional awareness, and is easily the second best team in the Eredivisie in terms of being tactically sound.
Essentially, it is just the defence that is in need of heavy reinforcement this summer, as it has often let the team down this season.
Feyenoord vs Roma will surely be a spectacle with both teams on their day being capable of producing a wonderful game of football.
My predictions is a 2-1 win for Feyenoord with Sinisterra and Bryan Linssen both getting on the scoresheet, yet this view might be slightly biased given that I really like the way they set up and think that on their day, they may be able to surprise Roma.
