The opponent in the play-off is the Rangers FC of former Feyenoord coach Giovanni van Bronckhorst, which was too strong for the Belgians 3-0 after last week’s 2-0 defeat against Union Saint-Gilloise at home. PSV will compete against the Scots for the jackpot of 35 million euros, which is linked to participation in the group stage. PSV already collects a bonus of 5 million euros for reaching the play-off.
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For a long time it did not seem that that check could be written, because PSV had a particularly difficult time with AS Monaco. The PSV players seemed to suffer from the tension and played unusually sloppy. AS Monaco dictated the game and the home team was mainly plugging holes.
It was striking that also a strong holder like Cody Gakpo was not in his normal way. The important attacking asset had quite a few unfortunate moments and shot too hastily and uncontrollably in two promising situations. Gakpo could not show for a moment in this match that he is ready for a transition to a top competition like the Premier League.
Despite the disappointing game, PSV still took the lead and, just like in Monaco, Joey Veerman was the goldcrest. After good preparatory work by Phillipp Mwene and Ismael Saibari, the Volendammer cleverly pushed the ball into the goal with the great kicking technique.
Luuk de Jong sees that the 1-0 rolls into AS Monaco’s goal.
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Veerman has started the season strongly and is a powerful weapon for PSV. It has been a great move by PSV to take over Veerman from SC Heerenveen in January for 6 million euros. The coincidence factor also played a role here. Veerman was actually on his way to Feyenoord when PSV’s director of football affairs John de Jong received the message from Davy Pröpper that he was tired of football and wanted to put away his football boots immediately. De Jong switched quickly and hijacked Veerman in front of Feyenoord to bring the midfield back up to standard.
Veerman’s goal was against proportion, because it was AS Monaco that had the better of the game. PSV could not get a grip on the game, because the game in possession was below par. Striker Luuk de Jong was unable to hold the ball sufficiently, while around him Guus Til and Gakpo argued with the ball too often.
The first half started and ended with a big chance for Wissam Ben Yedder, AS Monaco’s cunning goalkeeper thief, who is still life-threatening at 31. In the situation in the first minute, Armando Obispo made a save with an utmost effort, while goalkeeper Walter Benitez, face to face with Wissam Ben Yedder, proved his great value just before half-time. The AS Monaco striker saw his effort stopped by the Argentine goalkeeper, whom he knows well from the duels with OGC Nice in Ligue 1.
The PSV coach, who indicated in advance that it was very important to be clean on the ball so as not to initiate counterattacks with sloppy strikes, could not possibly be satisfied with his team’s field play before half-time. But even after the briefing at halftime, Monaco kept the better of the game. PSV tried with all their might to nip the Monegasque urge to attack in the bud, but after Guillermo Maripan had already given a warning by heading the ball against the post, it was the same player who scored the equalizer. Maripan scored from a scrimmage.
Guillermo Maripan scores the equalizer for AS Monaco
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Van Nistelrooy intervened, strengthened his organization with the experienced defender André Ramalho and midfielder Erick Gutierrez and hopes to get a better grip on the game and get better at playing football. But it was AS Monaco that struck. The cunning fox Ben Yedder scored from the counter (1-2). After that PSV tried with all their might to come back. The home team did not create much, but in the 89th minute the ball fell on Gutierrez’s head and the Mexican caused a huge explosion of joy in the Philips Stadium (2-2).
Ruud van Nistelrooy asserts himself along the sidelines.
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The narrowly enforced extra time started with a header on the crossbar by Breel Embolo, where PSV escaped again. But in the end it was PSV that pulled the longest straw and it was precisely De Jong, who had returned to the old nest, that was the goldcrest with how could it be otherwise a header goal in the 109th minute.
Relive the duel via our scoreboard with extensive statistics