PSV will face Galatasaray in the second preliminary round of the Champions League, which will be the opponent in the Philips Stadium on Wednesday evening at 9 p.m. The people of Eindhoven have so far had a much better preparation than the Turks, were a lot more decisive on the transfer market and historically also have a strong advantage. However, there are also some doubts beforehand. Here’s everything you need to know leading up to the diptych.
By Thijs Verhaar
A Champions League-worthy poster Nordin Amrabat called it on Monday ESPN. “Certainly, two superpowers actually. Superpower in the Netherlands and superpower in Turkey,” said the former player of both clubs. He therefore finds it difficult to estimate who the favorite is. “PSV has made a good selection and four or five good transfers. Galatasaray has not bought much.” In total, the Turkish top club has waved goodbye to twelve players, while only three have been welcomed so far, the analyst and former attacker also knows by profession. “But they still have a very experienced, crafty selection,” he warns.
Indeed, Galatasaray traveled to Eindhoven with a pretty strong selection. Trainer Fatih Terim has included Radamel Falcao, Arda Turan, Fernando Muslera and Sofiane Feghouli in his 23-man squad, which with Ryan Babel and former NAC Breda player Ömer Bayram, even after the departure of Ryan Donk and Halil Dervisoglu, still has a lot to do. has a Dutch touch. Donk’s expiring contract was not renewed and Dervisoglu’s Süper Lig adventure will not be continued either. Just like Henry Onyekuru and Gedson Fernandes, he was hired last season and was part of the team that settled into second place with a mighty final sprint, only one goal short of keeping Besiktas from the title.
Ryan Donk is one of the twelve (!) players to leave Galatasaray this summer.
However, the successful team quickly fell apart and the preparation of the Turks is not going smoothly either. Galatasaray wanted to play an exhibition game against Olympiacos last week, but was stopped at Athens airport due to hassle over a PCR test. As a result, the men of Fatih Terim have not played a game for eleven days on Wednesday, because on Saturday 10 July they played the last exhibition game against competitor Kasimpasa (4-2 win). Another fourteen days earlier, Dinamo Bucharest went 2-1 over the knee, so that the Turks only have two practice games in their legs and hardly know where they stand.
Add to this the fact that the club lived in uncertainty for months with presidential elections (eventually won by Burak Elmas), that the team cannot play in its own stadium due to the construction of a new turf, but has to move to the home port of Basaksehir and you can speak of chaos. Add in a double corona infection and a transfer soap as a result of which Ogulcan Caglayan, who was recruited last year, is still not entitled to play in European duels and you understand exactly why many Turks do not give ‘their’ Galatasaray a cent for the chances of survival against PSV. Nevertheless, with the stay of the very experienced trainer Fatih Terim, there is also some good news to report from a Turkish perspective.
Despite the departure of twelve players, two corona absences and Caglayan who is not eligible to play, he ‘just’ sticks to his 4-1-4-1 system that has brought him great success in the past. Newcomer Aytac Kara impressed as a defensive midfielder by shooting in a free kick in both exhibition games and Alpaslan Öztürk, who was also transferred free of charge, radiated calmness in the heart of the defence. However, he is expected to have to play as right back against PSV, because the regular right back DeAndre Yedlin is missing, just like midfielder Emre Akbaba, with a corona infection. At the same time, Terim also has to miss his second right-back Omar Elabdellaoui due to a serious eye injury he sustained during a fireworks accident around the turn of the year. As a result, Cim Bom now not a single right back left and the coach has to fall back on the not very fast Öztürk.
The defensive center is then expected to be formed by the Brazilian Marcao and the strong Congolese Christian Luyindama, while Ömer Bayram is attributed a place in the base by Turkish media as a left back. Kara is then, as mentioned, the defensive midfielder and he will probably get a block of four men: Kerem Aktürkoglu, Emre Kilinc, Feghouli and Ryan Babel. The lone striker in the front seems to be Mostafa Mohamed, although it could also just be that Terim suddenly reverts to old warrior Falcao for this important diptych. According to Turkish newspapers, it is almost impossible to predict due to the ultra-short preparation, but their preference seems to be for the agile and fast Egyptian. He is rented from Zamalek and in the second half of the season already good for eight goals in sixteen league games.
With this, just like free kick specialist Kara, he can create a threat at PSV, where summer addition Joël Drommel has already been able to get used to his new defense on goal. In three of the four practice matches, Phillipp Mwene, André Ramalho, Olivier Boscagli and Philipp Max started in front of him, while trainer Roger Schmidt also chose exactly the same midfielders and vanguard in a 4-2-3-1 formation in the last two practice games. This deviates slightly from his 4-2-2-2 variant implemented last year, but with Marco van Ginkel and Ibrahim Sangaré as central midfielders and before that Noni Madueke, Mario Götze, Yorben Vertessen and striker Eran Zahavi, he seems to be his ideal formation. against Galatasaray.
At the same time, due to the decisive action of the club management, he has sufficient options to vary in line-up or playing style. The people of Eindhoven have done everything they can to make it to the group stage of the Champions League and have already obtained five basic reinforcements for this. The team now knows that if it wins against Galatasaray in the third preliminary round of the billion-dollar ball, it will face the winner of Celtic against FC Midtylland, while a defeat ensures a return to the third qualifying round of the Europa League, in which the Scottish St. Johnstone takes the lead. opponent. If that game is also lost, a play-off game remains for the Conference League.
Driessen does not understand anything about PSV: “Then the distance with Ajax will become greater again”
Valentijn Driessen was very critical on Tuesday of some choices that PSV and trainer Roger Schmidt have made in the run-up to the diptych with Galatasaray.
However, according to the bookmakers, PSV need not worry about this. The people of Eindhoven are seen as a favorite in the diptych with Galatasaray and also the Turkish journalist Samet Cayir van Goal points to PSV. “They have strengthened themselves well and prepared calmly, while the Gala was chaos,” he reports football zone. He thinks the lack of rhythm will break the Turks up, although he sees a slight advantage in UEFA’s recent rule change. Away goals no longer count double, so Galatasaray still has a small chance in the return on Turkish soil even with a hypothetical 3-0 score in Eindhoven. “So they are not immediately without a chance anyway. However, I think that PSV will just win over two matches, even now that they also have to miss two important players.”
The journalist refers to Donyell Malen and Denzel Dumfries, who, as is known, are both given the space to make a transfer. They did not play during the entire preparation and are now not part of the match selection. Roger Schmidt also has a fit selection at his disposal. Even European Championship goer Cody Gakpo is counting on him to be able to play a significant role against Galatasaray despite a very short holiday. “I don’t need many games to feel rhythm. I noticed that last season,” he assured this week The Telegraph. “Everyone wants to get to the group stage of the Champions League. That’s what we’re going for and I think we’re ready for it,” said the wing attacker, who will probably relieve Vertessen in the second half against the Turkish superpower and possibly even get a base place.
Cody Gakpo has barely returned from his holiday after the European Championship with the Dutch national team, but still thinks he can play a big role against Galatasaray.
If Gakpo is right and PSV qualifies for the group stage of the Champions League via the second, third and fourth preliminary rounds, it will be the seventeenth time for the Eindhoven team. With this they would keep pace with record holder Ajax, which has already qualified as champion for the group stage and will also experience that for the seventeenth time. Historically, a meeting with Galatasaray is in any case very promising for PSV. In 2006 the Eindhoven team reached the knockout phase of the billion-dollar ball by beating the Turks and in the festive year of 1987 they even won the European Cup I at the time after Galatasaray was defeated in the first round. PSV has played eight times at home against a Turkish team and the balance can be called almost perfect: seven victories, one draw, zero defeats.
The only concern for PSV is that without Dumfries and Malen it will be a little less easy for the time being than last season. The team may have started the practice campaign well with a 6-2 win and a 1-10 victory over Delbrücker SC, but a meager 0-0 against Osnabrück and a narrow 1-0 win over PAOK make it clear that it is not always easy at the front. goes without a hitch without Malen, who is presumably leaving for Borussia Dortmund. No fewer than 26 goals were scored against the Greeks, but only Madueke scored once. Striker Eran Zahavi is not worried, however. He recently told the Eindhovens Dagblad that partly thanks to the five new signings, the team is ‘stronger and more mature’ than last year, so he doesn’t see an early elimination like last season against Olympiacos happening again. “We have to beat Galatasaray and we will do that.”
Probable PSV line-up: drum; Mwene, Ramalho, Boscagli, Max; Van Ginkel, Sangare; Madueke, Gotze, Vertessen; Zahavi.
Probable line-up Galatasaray: Muslera; Öztürk, Marcao, Luyindama, mer Bayram; Kara; Akturkoglu, Emre Kilinc, Feghouli, Babel; Mustafa Mohamed.