Guus Til (24) is facing the biggest game of his career. From a Feyenoord high-flyer who was only convincing in the Regionalliga team of SC Freiburg last season.
The bare figures make impressive reading: six appearances in the Europa Conference League qualifiers, six goals. 32 league games for Feyenoord this season, 15 goals and three assists. Nine games in the Conference League, two assists. Mind you, as an attacking midfielder. No one from Rotterdam’s squad scored more goals than Guus Til in the Eredivisie, only four players scored more often in the Dutch top flight – the top scorer was ex-Frankfurt player Sebastien Haller (21 goals).
Til’s CV now even includes four senior internationals for the Netherlands, scoring his first goal for Oranje in a 6-1 win over Turkey in early September 2021. With Feyenoord, the attacking player finished the league season in third place, only champions Ajax and cup winners PSV collected more points. And now a career highlight awaits: the final of the Europa Conference League on Wednesday in Tirana, Albania, against AS Roma under coach José Mourinho.
It would be the first title for Til – and a satisfaction after anything but easy last years.
In the summer of 2019, Spartak Moscow transferred a whopping €16 million to Alkmaar for Til, where he had played since 2010 and made the jump to the pros in 2016. The Zambian-born right-footer got off to an auspicious start in his first spell abroad in Russia, collecting four scorer points (one goal, three assists) in his first three games – but would only add a single goal by the end of the 2019/20 season.
Which is why Spartak opted for a loan. And Til for Freiburg. The loan deal was set for two years. But it ended prematurely after only one season – SC preferred to make use of the exit option rather than the purchase option. Although Til never let himself down and fought his way up to the professional team in exemplary fashion via the U23s, the attacker was never a real alternative for Christian Streich: Sometimes there was no reason to bring in new personnel because of good results. Sometimes Til was injured or didn’t fit into the system. But he only wanted one thing: to play.
With six short appearances and one starting eleven appearance in the Bundesliga, neither the players nor the SC could be satisfied. Til only scored four goals in four Regionalliga appearances. “He has to get on the pitch and that was difficult for us for various reasons,” Freiburg’s sporting director Jochen Saier said in April 2021.
“Our games were among the most spectacular in this competition “
Til eventually went back to Russia and went straight from there on another loan. As is not uncommonly seen in football, the feel-good factor of the Dutch homeland allowed the offensive power to blossom – and now a European Cup triumph beckons.
“Our games were among the most spectacular in this competition: lots of goals, energy, intensity and attacking football,” praised Arne Slot in the UEFA interview before the final. The Feyenoord coach believes in Til and his team-mates: “We have the quality to win titles, even if we unfortunately couldn’t prove it in the league or the cup. That’s why this is our last chance this season.” Which Til also wants to seize in order to crown what is probably his best professional year.
