PSV thrash Girona to pick up first Champions League win of the season
The domestic PSV freight train came to halt at the weekend, when a 3-2 defeat to rivals Ajax ended a stunning 10-match winning run at the start of the season.
However, that analogy has not transferred to Europe’s premier cup competition, with that particular journey being marred by signal failures, after no wins from their opening three league phase matches.
They faced a Girona team buoyed by a 2-0 victory over Slovan Bratislava last time out, and Walter Benítez twice denied the La Liga side in quick succession to keep out efforts from Ladislav Krejčí and Bojan Miovski.
However, it was the Dutch champions who struck first, when Ryan Flamingo clinically dispatched Malik Tillman’s throw-in with a brilliant volley for his first goal in UEFA competition.
Tillman added a goal to go with his assist in the 33rd minute, and Míchel would have been left seething by the ease in which the USA international was allowed to surge down the left flank unchallenged before firing past Paulo Gazzaniga at his near post.
Luuk de Jong should have doubled the hosts’ advantage within five minutes of the restart after he was expertly picked out by Tillman, but the PSV skipper shinned a first time attempt which cannoned off the post.
Girona’s captain Arnau Martínez then took centre stage himself – but for all the wrong reasons, as he was shown a second yellow card for a lazy challenge on Noa Lang.
De Jong spurned another chance to extend PSV’s lead, after being teed up by Couhaib Driouech on this occasion, but could only fire a close-range attempt straight into Gazzaniga’s grasp.
Ismael Saibari then thought he had scored a third to effectively put the result beyond any doubt with a fine individual effort, but a VAR review harshly determined that the Moroccan had fouled Krejčí in the build-up to rule out the goal.
However, Peter Bosz’s men were not to be denied a third goal, as Johan Bakayoko was able to cut inside off the right flank and rifle home an unstoppable left-footed strike past Gazzaniga.
A chastening night for the Spaniards was completed when Krejčí inadvertently diverted the ball home for PSV’s fourth.
This result provisionally moves PSV up into the knockout phase play-off places, while Girona have created an unwanted piece of history by becoming the the first Spanish team to lose their first two away matches in the UCL proper.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Malik Tillman (PSV Eindhoven)
