Roger Schmidt is satisfied with PSV’s field play in Wednesday evening’s match against Benfica. The PSV coach is looking forward to next week’s return match with confidence, after a 2-1 loss in the first game. “We played a good game and were the better team,” concludes Schmidt in front of the camera of RTL7. “We deserved more than 2-1. But it’s a knockout system, so we have another game. The starting position is not ideal, but we are confident.”
PSV faced a 2-0 deficit at halftime, but Schmidt also thought his team played well in the first half. “There were two moments where they scored, that was too easy. But we also had our moments, better than Benfica. I had no worries at half-time. Everything was still possible.” Marco van Ginkel had the same feeling during the break. “We said to each other that there was still enough possible. Cody made a good goal. We certainly get positive points from the second half,” says the captain.
Van Ginkel is left with a ‘strange feeling’, because he did not think Benfica was much better than PSV in the first half. “We could have gotten more out of the long ball behind their defense. There was space there, but we only created half chances. If we had used the opportunities better, there would have been more in it. At Benfica, the two chances went straight in,” he laments. he. Goal scorer Cody Gakpo believes that PSV has ‘every chance’ to advance to the group stage. “Of course we wanted to win here. We also had good opportunities, so that’s a shame. This is not a bad starting position, but it could have been better.”
Schmidt is asked afterwards about his choice to leave Ibrahim Sangaré on the field for the entire game. During the break of the match, analyst Wesley Sneijder made a plea to bring Davy Pröpper into the lines immediately after the break for Sangaré, who in his opinion lost the ball too often, but in the end Pröpper entered the game in minute 64 as a replacement for Marco van Ginkel. field. “Marco had a yellow card. A match at this level, with this intensity, is always a risk for Marco”, he refers to the injury sensitivity of the midfielder. “I never thought about replacing Ibrahim Sangare. He is so crucial for us. I didn’t think about it for a second.”
“He will have to think about that,” Sneijder responds laughing in the studio of RTL7 on Schmidt’s statement about Sangaré. “On the one hand, I understand that he calls Sangaré crucial, because he just conquers a lot of balls. But then he just has to play simple, then he is even better. If he conquers the ball and then immediately hands it in … Maybe Schmidt will see “Not that, but that’s what I notice. That’s the only thing that worries me about the team. But the way Schmidt stands there, with so much confidence, offers perspective for next week.”
Sangaré lost the ball fourteen times; Cody Gakpo (sixteen times) and Noni Madueke (eighteen times) lost the ball more often. Sangaré, together with Olivier Boscagli, conquered the ball most often (thirteen times) at PSV. Incidentally, Boscagli did not finish the game, as he was substituted at the same time as Van Ginkel. Armando Obispo was his replacement. “He was a little tired. The past week was tough for him and his wife,” explains Schmidt, referring to Boscagli becoming a father on Friday night. “He hasn’t had much sleep and he felt a bit tired. With Armando we have a very good alternative, so I didn’t want to take any chances. Armando did a good job.”