PSV recovers at Excelsior and takes another step towards the national title | Football

Mauro Júnior gave PSV the lead after an hour. Five minutes after the opening goal, Johan Bakayoko decided the game: 0-2. Bosz’s team recovered from the painful defeat at NEC (3-1) on Saturday. PSV suffered its first Eredivisie defeat of the season there.

PSV played in Kralingen without Jerdy Schouten, who publicly dismissed his coach Bosz after the defeat against NEC on Saturday. He wanted nothing to do with the “haughty” attitude that Bosz had accused his players of.

According to Bosz, Schouten was missing with a knee injury. Hirving Lozano was also absent due to injuries. Mauro Júnior took Schouten’s position in midfield against Excelsior. Malik Tillman replaced Lozano as left forward.

Thanks to the victory, PSV once again has a ten-point lead over Feyenoord, which plays against FC Volendam on Thursday, with six matches to go. PSV will be in action again on Saturday. Number four AZ is the opponent in the Philips Stadium. Excelsior will meet PEC Zwolle (away) on the same day.

Until last Saturday, virtually no one doubted PSV’s national title, but the loss against NEC secretly gave Feyenoord some renewed hope. PSV had to recover after the defeat – which meant that the team could no longer become undefeated champions.

This did not seem to be a problem for the errant Excelsior on paper, but Bosz’s mediocre team did not have an easy time in the first half. Without Schouten and Lozano, the team did have some opportunities, but did not fire a single shot on the enemy goal in the first 45 minutes.

Luuk de Jong and Joey Veerman, among others, did find themselves in a promising position, but neither saw their efforts disappear into the Kralingse goal. On the other hand, Excelsior also created little, partly due to the early retirement of Couhaib Driouech, who left the field in tears.

At halftime it looked like PSV might again suffer a bad result, but after the break the team put its affairs in order. André Ramalho saw his header saved by Excelsior goalkeeper Stijn van Gassel, but Mauro Júnior broke the ban not much later.

The Brazilian shot beautifully into the top left corner from outside the penalty area. Mauro Júnior scored for the first time since February 2022. Five minutes later, Bakayoko was well released by Tillman, after which the Belgian pushed the ball past Excelsior goalie Stijn van Gassel: 0-2.

This was the win for PSV, which then played the match expertly against a powerless Excelsior. The Kralingers did not fire a single shot on target for the third game in a row.