Ruud van Nisterlooij had few words of praise for his team on Sunday evening. PSV escaped an expensive loss of points against Fortuna Sittard. It was Xavi Simons who saved the Eindhoven club with a beautiful long shot. The midfielder was therefore the only one who received compliments from the trainer.
“It is unprecedented what kind of first season in his professional career he has”, Van Nistelrooij began his hymn. It’s bizarre what Xavi is doing this season. Already playing such a season at that age. With even a World Cup and his debut in the Dutch national team.”
The great season also has a downside, of course, because there is enough interest for the youngster. This week he switched to another agent and so there were plenty of rumors.
“We assume that he will stay with PSV”
“Of course you get rumors,” Van Nistelrooij responded matter-of-factly. “But we can paint him a nice picture. He can make great strides from PSV. His transfer of agent does not affect the player’s choice. He himself knows what is most important. We assume that he will stay with PSV.”
The trainer was very dissatisfied with the entire game image. “It was very difficult. We hardly created any chances. But you have to win ugly matches.”
“It’s a disappointment that we didn’t become champions”
The former striker was surprised that it was difficult. He therefore had to intervene at half-time with three substitutions. “That’s what matters to those guys. But it was necessary. You hope that things will go better, but that was not too bad.”
All in all, PSV did good business in the battle for second place. Winning against Heerenveen next week and qualifying rounds of the Champions League are in. The championship is definitely out of sight after Sunday after Feyenoord was crowned national champion. “That has been coming for a while. It’s a disappointment that we didn’t become champions. Second place is now the goal and we are fully committed to that.”
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