Feyenoord fight back from behind to beat Heerenveen in five-goal thriller

Feyenoord closed the gap at the top of the Eredivisie table thanks to a thrilling 3-2 win over Heerenveen at the Abe Lenstra Stadion. Arne Slot’s side required a win to keep their title hopes alive, and late heriocs from Ayase Ueda saved the day for last seasons champions.

The visitors thought they had taken an early lead when Lutsharel Geertruida fired the ball into the net, but VAR intervened, disallowing the goal for offside in the buildup. Less than ten minutes later, Heerenveen took the lead through Mats Kohlert. The German defender netted for the first time in over a year with a fantastic finish following some poor play from David Hancko. With minutes to go before halftime, a cross from Luka Ivanušec found the feet of Mats Wieffer who levelled the scor with his fifth goal of the season.

Mats Kohlert gave Heerenveen the lead again just after the hour mark. The 25-year-old hadn’t scored a single goal in the last year before bagging a brace in Sunday’s match. A sensational finish from the former Hamburg man meant that Heerenveen were ahead, but only for ten minutes as Igor Paixão levelled things up once again.

Feyenoord continued to fight for three points, registering 12 shots in the second half to Heerenveen’s two efforts towards goal. In the dying embers of the match Ayase Ueda won it for the Rotterdammers, successfully scoring from a one-on-one with Heerenveen keeper Mickey van der Hart. Feyenoord are now just seven points off PSV ahead of the league leaders’ tie with Twente. Heerenveen fell to their second successive defeat, leaving them five points off a European play-off place.