Leonid Slutsky could not lead the Dutch Vitesse to the Europa League

The Dutch football club Vitesse, under the leadership of former head coach of the Russian national team Leonid Slutsky, failed to qualify for the Europa League qualification.

On aggregate, for the right to play in the second most important European Cup tournament, the team lost to Utrecht (1:1, 0:2), which is led by another former coach of the Russian national team, the Dutchman Dick Advocaat.

Last season, Vitesse beat Utrecht (3:2, 2:1) in the playoff final, but did not make it to the group stage of the Europa League, losing in the third qualifying round.

“We had a lot of injuries, fatigue appeared. We had to use some players who trained very little. And if you have little freshness, then it’s difficult for you to dominate on the field,” the FCupdate portal quotes Slutsky.

Slutsky, who previously worked for CSKA Moscow, took charge of the team from Arnhem last summer. In the Dutch Championship, Vitesse took fifth place and competed with other teams for a ticket to the second qualifying round of the Europa League. Vitesse beat Groningen in the semi-finals of the playoffs and lost to Utrecht in the final.

Despite the disappointing results, Slutsky will most likely continue to work at the club - his contract runs until the summer of 2020.