In the third round of Champions League qualifying, PSV Eindhoven drew in Monaco. In the prestigious duel, it was actually the hosts who had the field advantage.
For almost a half, there was hardly a dangerous finish to marvel at in the Stade Louis II. Just before the break, however, PSV Eindhoven showed Monaco what they are capable of: After a beautiful combination, a pass from ex-Freiburg Til, the outstanding man in the success over Ajax Amsterdam in the Super Cup, landed with former Gladbach and Barcelona player de Jong, who cleverly laid off – just as Veerman finished into the net (38.).
Minamino misses narrowly, no penalty for Monaco
For a long time Monaco were the better team, but could hardly find a way through. Philippe Clement’s team, which did not start with newcomer Embolo (Gladbach) but with the Germans Nübel, Jakobs and Volland as well as LFC’s newcomer Minamino, often had to stop in front of the penalty area. The former Liverpool player also lacked a foot for a quick reply (40th). Otherwise, only Veerman had a good chance for another goal, but missed narrowly (22.).
As in the first half, when a possible hand penalty was not given by referee Davide Massa despite viewing the images on the video monitor (34th, Teze had got the ball on his hand in a tricky scene), the home side remained unlucky at first. Minamino was involved again, this time the Japanese missed a top chance from close range (49th).
Til follows Minamino’s example and misses the next goal
The start of the second half was a contrast to the first. The game offered much more, again and again the teams got forward in a fast-paced manner. Til (51.) missed the goal from close range in a similar situation as Minamino before and shot just wide.
Monaco then pressed for an equaliser, but in an intense second half only Volland was more dangerous (58.). Instead, PSV found their feet again towards the end, repeatedly becoming dangerous on the counterattack. Saibari missed the decisive goal by a hair’s breadth in the 73rd.
Monaco finally strike after Jakob’s free-kick and fail to hit the aluminium
AS Monaco were therefore able to put the finishing touches on the game after all: Disasi took advantage of the confusion in the penalty area after a Jakob free-kick and slid in the rejoiced equaliser (80th). PSV should be pleased that the score remained at 1-1, as Fofana headed against the post (87th minute) for the Monegasques, who were clearly in control at the end of the game.
The return match between the two clubs will take place in just one week’s time, also on Tuesday, starting at 8.30 pm. Before that, both the Monegasques (at Racing Strasbourg) and the Dutch (against promoted FC Emmen) start their national league campaign. The all-important play-offs for the group stage of the top flight will be played from 17 August.
