Champions PSV Eindhoven made a real statement at the start of the Eredivisie: Mark van Bommel’s son opened the scoring in the 6-1 home win over Sparta Rotterdam with a cheeky celebration.
PSV had strung together seven competitive wins at the end of last season, catching up with the supposed champions from Amsterdam. The recent 2-1 win in the Dutch Super Cup against cup winners Deventer was just a taste of what was to come in the league.
On Saturday evening, PSV swept the hapless Sparta Rotterdam out of the stadium with a 6-1 victory. Peter Bosz’s starting lineup included two professionals who had played in the Bundesliga last season: goalkeeper Kovar (Leverkusen) and striker Plea (Gladbach).
The duo had reason to celebrate in the third minute: Gasiorowski passed to van Bommel on the left side of the penalty area, and the 21-year-old cheekily tried a shot with the outside of his foot toward the near corner—and actually managed to beat keeper Drommel. Eindhoven dominated their opponents but failed to add to their tally at first.
It wasn’t until the 40th minute that a Veerman corner was powerfully headed in by Perisic to make it 2-0. Seconds before the break, a double one-two between Plea and Dest was crowned by the US international with the third goal (45+2).
Perisic collects three points
After the break, Perisic returned the favor to Veerman, who beat Drommel from the second row (50′). With the last half hour approaching, Sparta newcomer Ltaief made it 1-4 (63′). But it was only a drop in the ocean: Perisic’s second assist – and his third goal – found Til, who restored the four-goal lead three minutes after coming on as a substitute (70′).
The final word went to Gasiorowski, who had failed to score in 29 La Liga appearances for Valencia and now crowned his Eredivisie debut with a header to make it 6-1 (77′).
With the resounding victory behind them, PSV travel to Twente Enschede next Sunday (2:30 p.m.) for their first away game of the season.
