PSV Eindhoven vs Barcelona: 5 takeaways | UEFA Champions League 2018-19
FC Barcelona visited Dutch Champions PSV Eindhoven on Matchday 5 of the UEFA Champions League. The visitors had beaten the PSV team by a 4 goal margin earlier on Matchday 1, and for PSV this game was about getting a shot at the Europa League if they were to win. For La Blaugrana, this was about sealing the top spot in the group.
The match was between two strong attacking teams. PSV has the knack of scoring a number of goals in their league games, and Barcelona much like PSV are the best attacking team in LaLiga. But they had a number of injuries going into the game, including starters like Arthur and Luis Suarez.
Both teams had chances in the first half but Jorrit Hendrix's yellow card was pretty much the only major event in the first half. Barcelona took the lead through Lionel Messi's strike in the 61st minute, and 9 minutes later, Barcelona doubled their lead with Lionel Messi at the thick of things again. Messi's free-kick was miscued towards Pique, who got a good touch on the ball to finish.
PSV eventually got a consolation goal for their hard work throughout the 90 minutes as Luuk De Jong headed in towards the bottom right corner. The strike came in too late for PSV as Barcelona left The Netherlands with 3 points in the bag. The win ensures Barcelona's qualification as group leaders, and also ends PSV's contention for any European competition this year.
Here are five takeaways from the game.
#5 PSV create chances but have nothing to show for it
PSV created a number of chances in the game which were clear-cut goals if executed properly. Gaston Pereiro's long-range shot deflected off the post and came back into play, as early as minute 15.
He had another opportunity in a 1v1 against Ter Stegen, just a bit under pressure from Lenglet, and somehow he managed to lob it over the bar.
It was Luuk De Jong who came close to breaking the deadlock next time off a free kick. Ter Stegen could only watch his header went towards the top left corner, but it deflected off the upright again. Dumfries missed an easy chance to slam the ball in from the rebound.
There were a lot of chances in the second half as well. Pablo Rosario missed two easy shots which could have ended up as goals, and there was a poor shot from Jorrit Hendrix to go with it.
If PSV had managed to take the lead from the early chances, they could have looked to close the game out. It would have been a major momentum shift as well, but all they could do was create chances, and took only one of the many that came.
PSV is a great attacking team, nonetheless.