For the first time in a long time, Sparta were looking to qualify for Europe, but that dream was aborted with an unfortunate loss on Wednesday evening
Nigerian goalkeeper Maduka Okoye conceded two goals as Sparta Rotterdam fell 2-0 to Feyenoord in their semifinals clash in the Eredivisie's Europa Conference League playoffs.
Okoye has been one of Sparta's most outstanding stars of the 2020/21 Eredivisie campaign, keeping ten clean sheets to help Henk Fraser's side finish eighth on the league table.
That impressive finish placed the Spartans in the pool of four teams, alongside Feyenoord, Groningen, and Utrecht, to justle for a lone Europa League ticket.
Sparta, therefore, made the short trip to the Stadion Feijenoord in search of their first taste of continental football since 1986 when they lost a UEFA Cup tie versus Borrusia Monchengladbach.
But De Kasteelheren met an inspired home side equally keen on ending the campaign on a high.
And the night quickly turned sour for Okoye and his teammates as Steven Berghuis struck a penalty kick beyond the reach of the Super Eagles' shot-stopper on the half-hour mark.
It got worse when Sparta's defender Tom Beugelsdijk directed an own-goal past Okoye two minutes later to guide Feyenoord to a comprehensive win and the final against Utrecht.
Hi Imhons, I do enjoy your reporting. However in this case I wonder what context that you considered in describing a penalty goal and an own goal as “cheeky”, in reference to the keepers performance. In my opinion there was nothing “cheeky” about those two goals.