Feyenoord manager Robin van Persie handed Raheem Sterling his second-straight start on the left wing, while making up a centre-back pairing of midfielders Jakub Moder and Thijs Kraaijeveld in the absence of every central defender in the senior squad.
The Rotterdam clash between Feyenoord and Excelsior saw the hosts create the first bit of danger through Anis Hadj Moussa, who had his shot expertly saved by Excelsior stopper Stijn van Gassel.
With just under half an hour played, the visitors turned into the noisy neighbours when Excelsior left-back Arthur Zagré popped up as the lone striker, lifted the ball over Oussama Targhalline and Luciano Valente, and calmly placed the ball in Timon Wellenreuther's bottom corner for a shock lead.
Van Gassel kept Excelsior's lead intact in the minute following Zagré's goal with two magnificent saves that kept Ayase Ueda and Raheem Sterling from quickly levelling the score.
With Feyenoord flailing towards the end of the first half, Excelsior kept applying pressure and could've doubled the lead before half-time, but failed to do so. A very questionable first half saw Feyenoord head into the break with a 1-0 deficit, costing Robin van Persie a storm of boos.
The excellent Stijn van Gassel was beaten early in the second half by Ayase Ueda, but was saved by the bell as a VAR check disallowed the goal.
Ten minutes later, the Japanese striker made De Kuip explode again and this time for a legal goal, with Ueda's shot swerving away from Van Gassel and flying inside of the stopper's near post.
Feyenoord made it a quick double via Raheem Sterling and Ayase Ueda, who was sent deep into Excelsior territory by the English winger and easily finished the one-on-one with Van Gassel, who saw Excelsior's lead evaporate in mere minutes.
The assist was Raheem Sterling's first goal contribution since joining Feyenoord in February.
Excelsior's chances at beating Feyenoord decreased by the minute, with the visitors unable to put their bigger Rotterdam brothers under pressure, instead seeing Feyenoord up the ante with big chances for Hadj Moussa.
It wasn't stylish, but Feyenoord beat Excelsior 2-1 and head into derby week with a win. Up next are bitter rivals Ajax in the Klassieker derby, which is set to kick off on Sunday, March 22nd, at 14.30 CET.
Check the full match statistics on Flashscore
