PSV has reached the last sixteen of the Conference League. A 1-1 draw visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv was enough to advance to the next round. Despite a hit by Yorbe Vertessen just before time, it became unnecessarily exciting in the eight-minute stoppage time.
PSV should have decided last week, but took a narrow 1-0 lead to Israel. The return was scheduled there against Maccabi Tel Aviv. 30,000 Israelis were drawn to the bill, but above all their hero Eran Zahavi. The PSV striker was allowed to start in the starting line-up, but he was invisible throughout the game.
Maccabi Tel Aviv was at the level of PEC Zwolle a week ago. Even now the home team showed little, but extra forces were added by the cauldron that the supporters created. It led to a minor Israeli storm with a big chance for Dan Biton after ten minutes. His free header went just wide.
Little creativity
PSV had been warned and took matters into their own hands after this chance, without becoming really dangerous. It had the most possession and had Maccabi Tel Aviv in a hold. Only the trigger was not pulled, so a final decision was not made.
The only creativity came from Noni Madueke. The Englishman was the closest to a goal on behalf of the people of Eindhoven. He freed himself but ran into the Israeli goalkeeper. PSV also lacked creativity. There were no genius ideas from, for example, Mario Götze and Ritsu Doan on Thursday evening. The latter replaced the injured Cody Gakpo.
Interruption
After an hour of play, there was a short break of five minutes. At PSV corners, all kinds of objects were thrown, so that the referee found it necessary to stop the game. After the interruption, PSV regained control of the game, but the game image became a copy of the first half.
Six minutes before the end, PSV seemed to decide the match. Substitute Yorbe Vertessen shot the 0-1 against the ropes with the necessary luck. Maccabi now had to score twice to drag out extra time.
The connecting goal did fall. In the first minute of the eight-minute stoppage time, Enric Saborit headed in the 1-1. It was still seven minutes of squeezing the buttocks for the Eindhoven residents, but they kept hanging and strangling their feet.
draw
The 1-1 draw was enough for PSV to qualify for the last sixteen of the Conference League. It took the team unnecessarily a lot of effort, but it was entirely due to itself.
The draw for this round is Friday afternoon. The matches are scheduled for mid-March.