Feyenoord conquer league lead as Spanish strikes take down dormant AZ

[p]With [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/watanabe-tsuyoshi/SYe5fQkj/"]Tsuyoshi Watanabe[/a] out after picking up a minor injury during the international break, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/st-juste-jerry/2iGD675C/"]Jeremiah St. Juste[/a] returned to the heart of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/feyenoord/8zjySeoN/"]Feyenoord[/a]'s defence alongside [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/marmol-mika/Cz3awDFR/"]Mika Marmol[/a], while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/valente-luciano/4j2kSvnC/"]Luciano Valente[/a] started on the left wing once again.[/p][p]For [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/az-alkmaar/2RxOow1i/"]AZ[/a], star midfielder [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/smit-keet/G0KFeND3/"]Kees Smit[/a] was the biggest omission from the starting XI; the Dutch U21 international suffered an injury during warm-ups earlier this week and will miss the next few weeks. Former Feyenoord winger [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/stengs-calvin/zVcGaA1B/"]Calvin Stengs[/a] replaced Smit in the starting XI.[/p][p]Feyenoord dominated the opening phase and came close to breaking the ice several times, but [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/targhalline-oussama/ULZGhzIc/"]Oussama Targhalline[/a], Valente, and St. Juste's efforts weren't enough to get Feyenoord on the scoresheet.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ferri-nacho/Cda6vn3n/"]Nacho Ferri[/a] was handed a one-on-one on a golden plate when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/goes-wouter/dIMruslb/"]Wouter Goes[/a] headed the ball straight at the Spanish striker, who dashed at [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/de-busser-jari/WUMz0fU1/"]De Busser[/a] and safely slotted the ball past the Belgian stopper's near post.[/b][/p][embed guid="0f84660c-6ecd-4734-871e-e0d91fda21a6" url="https://x.com/ESPNnl/status/2108967450410672287?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Fresh off his Oranje debut, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/meerdink-mexx/OjqNXAED/"]Mexx Meerdink[/a] found himself in a one-on-one with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ernst-tjark/tbbK5T30/"]Tjark Ernst[/a], who didn't have to do much to keep the young striker from erasing Feyenoord's lead off the board within 90 seconds.[/p][p]Meerdink became a problem for the Feyenoord defence and looked to punish it shortly before half-time, forcing Ernst to take him down and earn a penalty, but after a lengthy VAR check, referee Danny Makkelie ruled the contact too minimal to award the spot-kick.[/p][p][b]With little threat from the dormant league leaders, Nacho Ferri threatened to get AZ on the ropes before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/real-sociedad/jNvak2f3/"]Real Sociedad[/a] loanee [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lopez-javi/MaufHIJ2/"]Javi Lopez[/a] doubled Feyenoord's lead on the cusp of the hour mark, heading home from a corner to put the hosts on a bed of roses.[/b][/p][embed guid="371de73c-dc49-4fd1-8f71-644ecd60d14f" url="https://x.com/ESPNnl/status/2108978324185718981?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Feyenoord weren't done yet and got several chances to put the game to bed, but Valente and substitute [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/van-den-elshout-tobias/l6G2zW1C/"]Tobias van den Elshout[/a] lacked the killer instinct to finish AZ off. On the other end, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/oufkir-ayoub/zez4qJxc/"]Ayoub Oufkir[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bendeguz-kovacs/2awfSoVm/"]Bendeguz Kovacs[/a] showed the same issues, thus keeping Feyenoord in the driver's seat for the final minutes.[/p][p]For the first time since November 2025, Feyenoord took the top spot in the Eredivisie, courtesy of a 2-0 win over Leeroy Echteld's disappointing AZ. Both teams face a quick turnaround for their European ventures, with Feyenoord hosting Como in the UEFA Champions League and AZ facing Hapoel Beer Sheva in the UEFA Europa League next week.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/vanhoutte-charles/CzsxDvTM/"]Charles Vanhoutte[/a] (Feyenoord)[/b][/p][image alt="Key match stats" id="de2a4afc-bf4d-4582-9df5-116225ce610f" credit-line="Flashscore" hidden-attrs="credit" guid="53410950-c1f5-4dc3-be3f-1de1a3b41fcf" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/az-alkmaar-2RxOow1i/feyenoord-8zjySeoN/?mid=rPxuLZcC"]Catch up with the full match and player statistics on Flashscore[/a][/b][/p]