PSV Eindhoven came from behind to defeat Sparta Rotterdam 5-3 in a thriller at a snowy Het Kasteel.

Roger Schmidt was not satisfied with his side after the 3-1 loss to AZ in midweek and he decided to drop Donyell Malen and Eran Zahavi to the bench, along with Denzel Dumfries. Cody Gakpo, Noni Madueke and Timo Baumgartl started. For Sparta, Abdou Harroui wasn’t fit enough.

On a snowy pitch, the game was played with a white ball and the KNVB revealed that there was no offside technology working because of the weather.

After only four minutes, Pablo Rosario gave the ball away and Bryan Smeets fired Sparta in front. PSV then equalised in the 24th minute when Mauro Junior nodded the ball in from close range.

Before the break both sides lost players to injury with Smeets leaving the pitch in tears, while Gakpo had to go off for Malen.

Two minutes into the second half, which was being played with an orange ball, Malen fired PSV in front after a fine move. Two minutes later, Madueke was played in on goal and he fired in a third for the visitors.

Malen then set up Philipp Max to fire low into the bottom corner in the 71st minute before Danzell Gravenberch pulled one back for Sparta.

Gravenberch then missed a great chance before Jordan Teze conceded a penalty. Reda Kharchouch slotted in the spot-kick to make it 3-4 with only a few minutes left.

Any chance of a comeback was killed in the final moments as Malen finished off a great team move to seal the victory for PSV.

The victory means PSV leapfrog Feyenoord into third, while Sparta are down in 8th.




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