PSV waltzes over FC Midtjylland in thirteen magnificent minutes

Tuesday, August 3, 2021 at 9:51 PM• Dominic Mostert

PSV took an advance on Tuesday evening to reach the play-off round of the Champions League. The Eindhoven team waltzed over FC Midtjylland in the first half and the built-up lead was no longer in danger after the break: 3-0. Of. PSV missed opportunities to further expand the score, especially in the last fifteen minutes. Noni Madueke, Mario Götze and Cody Gakpo scored the goals for PSV.

PSV, with Armando Obispo taking the place of the suspended Olivier Boscagli, took a 3-0 lead in the first half. Roger Schmidt’s team rarely ran into problems in the back and was very efficient in the front. All goals were scored in the space of thirteen minutes. Madueke opened the scoring after eighteen minutes, when he cut in past the penalty area and placed the ball with the left leg in the far top corner. The 2-0 was in the name of Götze, who took a long ball from André Ramalho in the penalty area and hit it through the leg of Raphael Onyedika. A flowing attack led to the 3-0 shortly afterwards. Madueke served Götze in the penalty area, after which the midfielder delivered the ball to Eran Zahavi; that enabled Gakpo to finish from close range with a heel ball.

Apart from a shot by Evander, who took the ball out of the air at a 0-0 score and went just wide, Midtjylland showed little opposition to PSV’s dominance in the first half. In the second half, the visitors from Denmark remained quite impotent. After an hour Erik Sviatchenko shot over, but a next PSV goal hung more emphatically in the air. However, the number of serious opportunities for this was limited in the first half hour after the break. In the first five minutes after the break, Madueke shot past and keeper Jonas Lössl parried a shot by Marco van Ginkel from outside the penalty area; Seventeen minutes before the end, Gakpo encountered the Midtjylland goalkeeper in the short corner.

Moments later, Eran Zahavi missed a huge chance for the 4-0. The striker was allowed to charge at Lössl and could score his tenth European goal for PSV, but shot wide. It turned out to be the start of a final offensive by PSV, in the hunt for a fourth goal. Madueke shot wide after he cut in and just before time Götze bumped into Lössl, preventing more damage for Midtjylland. On the other side, Evander shot just wide in injury time: the visitors’ most serious attempt. PSV will visit Denmark next Tuesday. If a miraculous comeback from Midtjylland does not come, the Eindhoven team will face the winner of the diptych between Spartak Moscow and Benfica in the last preliminary round. The first game between those clubs will be played on Wednesday.