It wasn’t a good night for the Dutch sides as the third qualifying round began on Thursday. Below is a round-up of all the action.

PSV 0-1 Osijek

PSV Eindhoven’s campaign got off to a horrible start as they slipped to a shock 1-0 defeat against Croatian side Osijek in the Philips Stadion.

Before kick-off it was announced that Marco van Ginkel had taken over the role as captain with Luuk de Jong wanting to concentrate fully on regaining his form. The striker had a terrible campaign last season and still looks far from his best as he missed several chances in a goalless first half. Steven Bergwijn was also guilty of fluffing a good chance as PSV struggled to break down a compact Osijek side.

The Croatians, who finished fourth in their league last season, barely threatened but early in the second half, a shocking backpass by Daniel Schwaab gifted possession to Osijek who eventually won a penalty for a foul by Joshua Brenet on the edge of the area. Borna Barisic beat Jeroen Zoet to make it 1-0.

After the goal, PSV threw on Hector Lozano and Gaston Periero but neither could make a telling impact as PSV failed to find an equaliser. Bergwijn came closest with a shot that cannoned back off the post.

PSV now travel to Croatia next Thursday with plenty of work to be done. They surely won’t play as bad as they did in the first leg.

Utrecht 0-0 Lech Poznan

Utrecht were held to a 0-0 draw by Polish side Lech Poznan in a disappointing game at the Stadion Galgenwaard.

Neither side took charge of the first half, but just before half time, Zakaria Labyad nearly opened the scoring with a low free-kick that was just kept out by goalkeeper Matús Putnocký.

In the second half, Utrecht struggled to deal with their more physical opponents and barely threatened to take the lead. The visitors got the best opportunity to snatch victory but David Jensen pulled off a stunning save to deny Nikola Vujadinovic ‘s header.

Utrecht held on at the end to take a goalless draw to Poland next week. More importantly, no away goals were conceded.




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