PSV and Peter Bosz were rewarded for guts and the fruit of training work | Champions League

The theory of the ketchup bottle. That applied to PSV on the evening that the team finally won against Rangers FC at the fourth attempt. 5-1, that is a result that stands.

Now that the initial euphoria has subsided a day later, it is nice to watch: where and when did PSV actually lay the foundation for the goal fair that it became? So that was in the 33rd minute. Why just then? There was no goal or penalty in that phase. No one got red either. Still: that minute, because then a first time succeeded on which Peter Bosz and his players had trained ad nauseam for a week.

PSV combined over the left in the 33rd minute, Sergiño Dest was cleared there, the offensive back reached the back line and came with a withdrawn cross towards the penalty spot. That’s exactly where Ismael Saibari appeared, who was able to score in free position.

That had been the bottleneck in the first leg in Glasgow. Then PSV had failed to play the very pass that Dest gave, while it could be done all the time. ,,I think Ismael got into that position ten times at Ibrox”, Bosz agreed last night. “But he never got the ball. I showed the group the images. It was clear where the return was key.”

Saibari hit the keeper in the 33rd minute, but two minutes later the 1-0 fell, from exactly the same attack. Now with Joey Veerman as the declarant on the back line and the Moroccan Belgian who scored with the head. Later in the game, the 4-1 also came from this pattern.

_{Text continues below the video of the 1-0…}

For Peter Bosz it was already an evening of satisfaction as a trainer. You have to dare to sacrifice a central defender for a midfielder in the game of the year. What he did by choosing Jerdy Schouten over André Ramalho was to attack PSV’s vulnerability without the ball by bringing even more ‘football’ into the team. With Dest, Saibari and Luuk de Jong, Schouten was among the best on the field. Bosz: ,,Jerdy only does logical things. When I’m on the bench, I try to think about what players can do on the field. And then I see him make logical choices. Whether he can also stand in the back against top teams in the Champions League? Who knows. He is insightfully strong and insightful strong midfielders can always be central in the back in my opinion.”

Today the Eredivisie will go into the draw with two teams. After five years of Ajax, it is now Feyenoord and PSV who will compete on the highest podium. The luxury of two CL participants was last available in 2018. Then the Dutch national team benefited from the crash course in top football that young upcoming Orange internationals such as Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt and Denzel Dumfries received. Now that can apply to players such as Lutsharel Geertruida, Joey Veerman, Isaac Babadi, Mats Wieffer and Quilindschy Hartman. One game against, say, Real Madrid or Barcelona will be equivalent to the experience of ten games at premier league level.

For Feyenoord the great rejoicing had already started, for PSV it starts now. It will be the 17th CL participation in history for the team from Eindhoven and who knows, a group with Barcelona, ​​Inter and Newcastle United will come out. Two of those three teams were also played in 2018. Newcastle United then enters the group as a replacement for Tottenham Hotspur.