PSV close to Olympiakos in the Champions League

PSV – unbeaten for eight games – failed to bring home three points. At the last minute, substitute Ricardo Pepi scored a point deep in injury time. With the 1-1, PSV has 5 points after four matches. Twelve points should be enough for qualification, but getting those seven points will be a hellish task with opponents such as Liverpool, Atletico Madrid, Newcastle United and Bayern Munich.

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Especially knowing that PSV dropped no fewer than five points against the two weakest opponents in the competition phase – Union St. Gilloise (1-3) and Olympiacos (1-1).

Apart from a short period in the opening phase, the PSV in the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium was not the PSV of recent weeks. The dominance in Eredivisie matches against Feyenoord or Fortuna Sittard or in the second half in the Champions League against Bayer Leverkusen and Napoli was hard to find against Olympiakos.

Ismael Saibari scores, but sees the goal disallowed

In the short phase that did work in the first fifteen minutes, Ismael Saibari tapped the ball behind goalkeeper Tzolakis, but received Anass Salah-Eddine’s cross in an offside position.

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The man in top form could not leave his mark on the match. Neither did his buddy Guus Til – he was preferred to Pepi in the striker role. The Greeks had analyzed PSV excellently because not only was the Saibari-Til couple on the chain, the playmakers Joey Veerman and Jerdy Schouten were also not given the time and space to set out the lines.

Gelson Martins delivers devastating results

There were no attacking impulses from backs Salah-Eddine and Sergiño Dest, so busy and difficult were they with the Portuguese wingers Gelson Martins and Daniel Podence. When Martins switched flanks and Schouten and Salah-Eddine lost their duels, the quicksilver Martins scored devastatingly from the right, face to face with Matej Kovar: 1-0.

The Greek goal again meant that PSV could not bring a clean sheet to the Netherlands. The people of Eindhoven have not been able to do this since 2016. Earlier in this Champions League, PSV also conceded a goal against Bayer in Leverkusen: 1-1.

The deficit after seventeen minutes meant that PSV had no less than 73 minutes excluding extra time to record a second consecutive victory in a European context after the 6-2 victory over Napoli. Nothing came of that in the remaining time of the first half. The best chance was for Portuguese midfielder Chiquinho, but Kovar prevented the 2-0.

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Bosz gave his first eleven thirteen minutes after the break to show improvement before he intervened. Pepi came for Til and the invisible Dennis Man made way for Couhaib Driouech.

Golden change Peter Bosz

With those substitutions, PSV had to turn the tide in Athens, but it was Martins who had the biggest chance. His volley flew over the top of the crossbar. Paul Wanner, the next substitute for PSV, pushed the ball just wide. And what about Saibari? Of course, Bosz left his highlight of the last few weeks, but all that glitters is not gold for the Moroccan international.

Pepi goldcrest

Seven minutes before the end, Bosz brought the battle-weary Saibari to the side. With this, the trainer seemed to raise the white PSV flag in Athens, but Pepi prevented defeat in the end.