Orkun Kokcu had his sweet revenge against De Classic after the talk from the Ajax camp however, Arne Slot insists that this was not the primary source of motivation for Feyenoord when they won their first game in De Classic on Amsterdam soil since 2005, Voetbal International reports.
Striker Santiago Gimenez gave the Eredivisie leaders the early lead before midfielder Edson Alvarez and forward Dusan Tadic gave Ajax the lead at half-time. However, Feyenoord got the three points in the second-half thanks to midfielder Sebastian Szymanski and defender Lutsharel Geertruida.
Kokcu, 22, was ecstatic after the match, having made his first trip at the Johan Cruyff Arena since joining Feyenoord.
He said: “They talk all day before the game and think they’re always the best.”
However, when asked the same question, Slot played down the mind-games building up to the match and praised his side for turning the game around despite momentum going Ajax’s way for most of the match.
The Feyenoord head coach said: “You win this game because the guys worked incredibly hard, they did a fantastic job of putting pressure and because they played really good football in the second half.
“I don’t think about that at all during a match and I don’t believe those guys either.”
Instead, the Feyenoord head coach referred to the fact that their last victory in the Johan Cruyff Arena dates back to August 2005.
He added: “We were much more concerned that we had not won here for seventeen years and that you would think it would be so nice for the supporters, and for ourselves, to win that match.”
“You shouldn’t relate that at all to a remark left or right. That might provide some extra motivation at the front, but I think it was much more motivation that the lead was at stake and that we hadn’t won here for seventeen years.”
