‘I hadn’t seen this yet’

Sunday, October 31, 2021 at 08:06• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk • Last update: 08:29

PSV did what it had to do against FC Twente on Saturday evening after the big defeat against Ajax. After the break, the number two in the Eredivisie convincingly distanced itself from the visitors from Enschede (5-2). That brought relief to most spectators in the Philips Stadium, who sent their team into halftime with a flute concert. Trainer Roger Schmidt was not only happy with the victory, but also with the first goals from Carlos Vinicius.

Vinícius was accurate for PSV for the first time against FC Twente, while he has been playing in Eindhoven for two months. The Benfica mercenary seemed to get his act together after his first goal. He screamed with joy, kicked the goalpost with his foot and stood demonstratively with his arms folded in front of the PSV crowd. He then determined the final score with his second goal at 5-2.

“When you’re new, the first goal is always the hardest,” Schmidt told ESPN. “Everyone saw that he was relieved after his first goal for PSV. In the last two games he has shown what his qualities are. He is always dangerous. Today he got the reward with two goals.”

Marco van Ginkel did not see Vinicius’ immense joy coming. “I hadn’t seen this in training yet,” said the PSV captain about the emotions of his teammate. “So you can see that he is working on it. A striker always wants to score goals. There was joy behind it.”

Schmidt saw that PSV had a difficult start to the duel with FC Twente. After a halftime score of 2-2, the team claimed the victory in the second half. “We hardly gave the opponent any chances, but it was very hard work. I saw that the players were shaken by Sunday’s defeat. Then it is not easy to stay calm with the ball. We made a lot of mistakes, even players who are normally very good at the ball are not playing at their top level now.”

“But we knew that. We had to work, and sometimes suffer. But in the end it was a deserved win. The most important thing was that we kept fighting.” The win is very welcome. “We had lost two important matches, against AS Monaco and Ajax. Then it is very important to win again. I know we are not at the level we were earlier in this season. Sometimes it all got a little easier. But even when it is difficult, you have to win matches. We did that and scored five more times.”