We visit PSV Eindhoven, who have been a common opponent in our European campaigns over the past few decades, to cap out the Champions League group stage.
We do, however, have all the information you require on our opponents if you are not familiar with their background or simply wish to find out how they have been doing since our previous meeting in September.
PSV, one of the biggest teams in the Netherlands, has won 24 league championships in addition to the UEFA Cup (1977–78) and European Cup (1987–88). They will be making their 50th consecutive campaign in Europe, having done so in every season since 1975–1976.
PSV was founded in 1913 for the local Philips electronics plant workers. Thirteen years later, the company joined the top flight, where it has stayed ever since. The team’s first league victory came in 1929, but other victories were few and far between until manager Kees Rijvers guided them to three league wins, including a Double, and the UEFA Cup in four seasons in the middle of the 1970s.
Better times were to come in the late 1980s when they completed a treble under Guus Hiddink in 1988 by defeating Benfica for the European Cup, one of the six league titles the great manager won in two stints. Bobby Robson carried on the good work into the 1990s, and their final heyday ended under
under Philip Cocu’s direction, they won three of the four championships they won between 2015 and 2018—their final victory.
PSV plays its home games at the third-largest football stadium in the nation, Philips Stadion, which holds 36,500 spectators. The last significant construction was finished in 2002, but there has been a ground there since 1910.
Numerous Dutch national team games and three Euro 2000 matches, including England’s 3-2 loss to Portugal, were held there. It also hosted the Women’s Champions League final from previous season and the 2006 UEFA Cup final, in which Middlesbrough lost to Sevilla 4-0.
After taking over as manager in the summer of 2022—his first senior managing position—Ruud van Nistelrooy defeated Ajax twice to win both the Dutch Cup and the Johan Cruyff Shield.
They placed lower in our Europa League group after losing to Sevilla in the previous round, but they were eliminated from the Champions League after losing 3-0 in the first leg.
Van Nistelrooy, however, quit with one game remaining following reported dressing room strife with coaches and players, despite finishing second in the Eredivisie behind Feyenoord.
Former Netherlands midfielder Peter Bosz, who played for Waalwijk and Feyenoord, took over as manager of PSV after the former striker. His first significant management accomplishment was leading Heracles into the Eredivise in 2005. In his lone season in Amsterdam, he also took Ajax to the 2016 Europa League final.
After that, he decided to move to Borussia Dortmund, but six months later, he was fired. He later signed on with Bayer Leverkusen, where he helped them qualify for the Champions League in 2019 and developed a young Kai Havertz. An eighteen-month tenure at Lyon was his most recent position.
Since our match against PSV in the previous season, a lot has changed. Star player and Eredivise Golden Boot winner Xavi Simons was loaned to RB Leipzig then re-signed by PSG this summer. That came after Cody Gakpo and Noni Madueke left, having been signed by Liverpool and Chelsea in January, respectively, while Ibrahim Sangare signed with Nottingham Forest on the deadline day.
Three new attackers have been brought in this summer to take their place: former striker Hirving Lozano, USA international Ricardo Pepi, and Noa Lang [above], who played for the Netherlands in the 2022 World Cup.
Bosz can also call upon veteran striker Luuk de Jong, who has scored 17 goals in 25 appearances this season, young winger Ismael Saibari, former Crystal Palace left-back Patrick van Aanholt, and Southampton’s German international Armel Bella-Kotchap. Other noteworthy recent additions are Barcelona full-back Sergino Dest.
PSV has been flawless in the Eredivisie this season, winning 15 of 15 games and amassing an amazing 52 goals to go ahead 10 points ahead of second place in the standings.
After five games, they took the lead in September and haven’t looked back. In October, Hirving Lozano scored a hat-trick in a 5-2 victory over Ajax, and earlier this month, they defeated their closest rivals, Feyenoord, 2-1, to further solidify their grasp on the league. In August, they won the Dutch Super Cup as well, defeating Feyenoord 1-0.
Their dreams were hanging in the balance after they only managed two points from their first three games, a 4-0 loss to us (their only loss this season), and draws against Lens and Sevilla. They had advanced to the Champions League by defeating Rangers in a play-off. But after victories over both teams in quick succession—including coming back from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Spanish team away from home—they have secured certification.
Nine times in competitive play, we have met PSV; seven of those encounters were in Champions League matches, along with the two Europa League encounters from the previous campaign.
The same stage that we faced each other in 2004/05, when an own goal secured us a home win before a 1-1 draw in the Netherlands, where Lauren and Patrick Vieira both received red cards, was won 4-0 in Eindhoven by goals from Gilberto Silva, Freddie Ljungberg, and Thierry Henry, before a 0-0 draw at Highbury in the group stages.
In the round of 16, we were paired against one other once more in 2006–07. After Alex scored goals in both halves to remove us from the competition, PSV secured a 1-1 draw at Emirates Stadium after winning the first leg 1-0 at home.
We were partnered in the Europa League group stages last season. Granit Xhaka’s goal gave us a 1-0 victory at home, but Joey Veerman and de Jong’s goals a week later sent us to a 2-0 defeat in Eindhoven. Then, on the first day of play, we thrashed them 4-0 thanks to goals from Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus, and Martin Odegaard.
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