PSV Eindhoven’s dream of a domestic double came to an end on Tuesday evening when the Dutch league leaders suffered a surprise defeat at NEC Nijmegen, who are dreaming of winning their first ever title.
Is the season already over for PSV Eindhoven at the beginning of March? The champions now lead the national league by 17 (!) points ahead of “pursuers” Feyenoord. In the Champions League, however, head coach Peter Bosz’s team failed spectacularly, crashing out in 28th place after the group stage. And since Tuesday evening, the dream of a domestic double has also been shattered.
Eindhoven surprisingly slipped up in the cup semi-final against NEC Nijmegen. Because PSV once again got involved in a spectacle. The favorites had won the league match in mid-September in a real slugfest with a score of 5-3. This time, Dick Schreuder’s team, who assisted his brother Alfred at TSG Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga in the 2019/20 season, came out on top. The home side took the lead in the sixth minute through 35-year-old striker Linssen, who was playing alongside 37-year-old Chery. Former Leverkusen player Kovar in the PSV goal made a decisive mistake. Eindhoven, who started with two former Bayern pros, Perisic and Wanner, among others, found the right answers before the end of the first half hour: Saibari with a fine header into the top right corner and Man with a well-placed shot into the bottom right corner turned the game around within four minutes (16th, 20th).
Driven on by their own fans, Nijmegen got back into the game before the break when Dasa scored with a superb shot from the edge of the box into the left corner (37th)
. The dream of a big surprise was still alive.
Önal becomes the match winner
Nijmegen kept pushing to seal the deal. On the other side, Bosz brought on more and more fresh players, but even former Augsburg striker Pepi (for ex-Bochum player Boadu) and ex-Freiburg player Sildillia (for Wanner) couldn’t turn things around. In the fifth minute of stoppage time, Perisic had the equalizer at his feet after a double one-two, but shot the ball over the bar. Shortly afterwards, the game ended at the Goffert Stadium, which erupted in ecstasy.
The dream of the club’s first ever title lives on. Alkmaar and Telstar Velsen will determine their opponent in the final on Wednesday evening at 8 p.m. An underdog had already triumphed in the previous season: Go Ahead Eagles sensationally defeated Alkmaar in a penalty shootout.