Feyenoord dealt Timber blow ahead of Champions League clash at Milan

Feyenoord have confirmed that captain Quinten Timber has been ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing knee surgery on a ligament injury.

Timber picked up the problem in Feyenoord’s Champions League play-off clash against AC Milan last week, a game they went on to win 1-0 thanks to Igor Paixao’s early goal.

In the Eredivisie this season, no player has won more tackles for Feyenoord than Timber (24), while he is also the club’s top scorer in the Dutch top-flight with six, following Santiago Gimenez’s move to Milan in January.

It adds to interim coach Pascal Bosschaart’s injury woes, with eight other first-team players out for the match at the San Siro, making their chances of qualifying to the last 16 of the Champions League since 1974-75 even more difficult.

Calvin Stengs, who was injured during Feyenoord’s 3-0 win over Bayern Munich in January, has recovered, however, and will have some part to play on Tuesday.

But Feyenoord have won just three of their last 17 away games in the Champions League (D3 L11), although two of those victories have arrived this season (3-2 v Girona and 3-1 v Benfica).

They have also lost five of their six away games against Italian sides in the European Cup / Champions League, only managing to avoid defeat in February 2000 v Lazio (a 2-1 win). Indeed, the only one of those six games to take place in the knockout stages was a 0-1 defeat to Milan in the 1969-70 campaign.

Take care, captain…

— Feyenoord Rotterdam (@Feyenoord) February 17, 2025

Despite the setbacks, Bosschaart was upbeat about his side’s chances at his pre-match press conference.

“We all sympathise with Timber, it’s a shock for everyone,” he said. “But we are here with a good team.

“The same formation as last week but without Timber but with Calvin Stengs. We are happy that Stengs is back in the selection. He is good for half an hour.

“We are 1-0 ahead, we are in a good position to reach the next round. AC Milan will definitely do something different than in Rotterdam.

“We also have to make plans for that, but we have prepared well. Hopefully our plan will come to fruition,” Bosschaart added.