Feyenoord survives late scare to edge past Como 3-2 in Champions League

Feyenoord walked away with a win that looked more comfortable than it ended up being: 3-2 over Como at Stadion Feijenoord, in a Champions League league-phase match that got complicated in the final seconds. Como pushed hard until the end and even found a second goal in the 92nd minute, but the scoreboard didn't move again after that.

The match opened with a blow for the home side. Just 17 minutes in, Assane Diao finished left-footed from point-blank range, right by the post, off an assist from Jacobo Ramón, making it 0-1 for Como. Feyenoord's response came almost immediately: two minutes later, Gjivai Zechiël unleashed a right-footed strike from outside the box that found the top left corner, assisted by Luciano Valente, leveling things at 1-1 heading into halftime.

In the second half, Feyenoord turned the match around. In the 51st minute, Anis Hadj Moussa finished left-footed from inside the box, assisted by Gaoussou Diarra, to make it 2-1. The home side seemed to be closing out the win and even extended the lead in the 80th minute, when an own goal from Robert Sánchez made it 3-1. But Como refused to give up: deep into stoppage time, in the 92nd minute, Tasos Douvikas finished right-footed from the center of the box to make it 3-2, a goal that arrived too late to change the outcome.

The numbers behind the match

The stats reflect a tightly contested game, with Como even ahead in possession and passing, though Feyenoord ultimately walked away with all three points.

As for the xG estimated after the fact based on the match's shots, Como generated 1.401 compared to Feyenoord's 0.667, a figure suggesting the visitors created more danger than the final scoreline ends up showing.

What the preview said versus what happened

Before the match, our projection had Como as a slight favorite, with a 39% chance of an away win compared to 34% for Feyenoord and 27% for a draw. The expected goals published in the preview pointed to a tight match (1.41 for Feyenoord and 1.53 for Como), and the way the game unfolded did carry that same even-matched profile. But the result ended up favoring the team that went in as the slight underdog on paper: Feyenoord came out on top even though Como managed to match it in xG generated during the match itself.

What the result means in the standings

With this result, Feyenoord moves to 3 points through two matches played, while Como also sits on 3 points following the loss. Both teams share a similar goal difference in this league phase, in a table that remains tightly packed in the middle, where just a handful of points separate nearly twenty teams.

Feyenoord held onto the lead it built in the second half, but the closing stretch left a sense of a match that stayed open until the very end: Douvikas' stoppage-time goal was a reminder that Como never let go of the match, even when the scoreline seemed all but settled.