PSV Eindhoven are officially out of Europe after a 2-1 defeat to Barcelona in the Philips Stadion.
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PSV knew only a win would do if they were to keep hope of a Europa League spot alive and Mark van Bommel stuck to his 4-3-3 formation. Within a few minutes, Hirving Lozano was chopped down outside the box. The resulting free-kick from Gaston Pereiro was kept out by Marc Andre Ter Stegen.
Barcelona’s defence looked shaky early on and after Pereiro struck the post, the ball was presented to Pablo Rosario on the edge of the area. However, the midfielder scuffed his effort straight at Ter Stegen.
As the first half wore on, the visitors took control and Arturo Vidal saw two efforts cleared off the line, while Jeroen Zoet saved twice from Lionel Messi. However, the best chance of the half fell to PSV just before the break. Luuk de Jong headed a free-kick against the bar and the follow up was hit against the post by Denzel Dumfries.
The second half was end to end but on the hour mark, Barcelona had the lead when Messi played a one-two with Dembele before squeezing a shot past Zoet off the post. Less than ten minutes later, Gerard Pique diverted Messi’s free-kick past Zoet to make it 2-0.
PSV tried to get back in the game quickly but Steven Bergwijn fired inches wide of the post before Ter Stegen denied Lozano at close range. With eight minutes to go, PSV got the goal they deserved with De Jong rising to head in Angelino’s cross.
PSV pushed for an equaliser but it never came as Barcelona held on for the victory which sees them through as group winners. PSV’s position at the bottom of the group has been confirmed with one game left.
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it was a tough draw for psv from the beginning but to be honest they must be proud of what they did aginst top teams they played with a big courage and were not afraid of attacking aginst them the team is still young but we saw a great potential from them
i am also happy for luuk de jong he is on fire now