PSV has taken the first hurdle on their way to the group stage of the Europa League without too much trouble. The Einhoveners were 1-5 too strong for the Slovenian NS Mura on Thursday evening and can therefore prepare for a visit to Rosenborg BK. The Norwegians simultaneously dealt 1-0 with Alanyaspor and are therefore the opponent of Roger Schmidt and his men in the play-offs of the second European cup tournament.

Schmidt made three changes compared to the Eredivisie match against FC Emmen with basic places for Maximiliano Romero, Bruma and Mauro Júnior and their entrance was at the expense of Noni Madueke, Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Ihattaren. For Romero, who made his basic debut two and a half years after his arrival at PSV, the game was over after nine minutes. The Argentinian striker suffered a knee injury early in the game, tried it for a while but eventually had to give up the fight.

Gakpo quickly came in and with the attacker within the lines, PSV took the lead with more than fifteen minutes on the clock. A sharply curving free kick by Philipp Max was a prey for Donyell Malen, who worked the ball with the head behind goalkeeper Matko Obradovic. However, this margin did not last long, as it was 1-1 again four minutes later. Nino Kouter managed to shake off Olivier Boscagli on the edge of the box and his effort disappeared just past the fingertips of Yvon Mvogo.

PSV was not put off by this setback and took the lead again more than five minutes later via Mauro. The Brazilian got the ball in the box from Max, after which his bet bounced past Obradovic via an opponent and Mauro eventually gave the last push himself. The visitors’ lead was no longer in danger in the remainder of the first half, but a few minutes after half-time it almost went wrong when Kevin Zizek was allowed to head in. Mvogo, however, showed attention and kept the ball out of his goal with the help of the post.

Not much later, this miss cost Mura extra dear when Bruma Gakpo was able to send deep and the substitute did not fail face to face with Obradovic. With the help of van Malen, with 25 minutes to go, it then also became 1-4. The striker was sent deep by Bruma, who provided his second assist of the match, and finished off coolly. In the remainder of the encounter, Mura did not offer much in return, although not long after Malen’s goal, it was still almost hit for the home team. However, the post and Mvogo got in the way of Tomi Horvat’s 2-4 and therefore seemed to stay at 1-4 for a long time. In the absolute final phase, a fifth Eindhoven goal followed when substitute Madueke Dumfries served and he enabled Gakpo to also make his second of the evening.