PSV Eindhoven will feel their luck is cursed at De Kuip. For the second year running, they allowed a two-goal advantage over their hosts Feyenoord to slip from their grasp in the closing minutes, in the process sustaining a significant blow in their hopes of laying claim to the Eredivisie title. In May, it was Cyriel Dessers’ last-gasp penalty which stood between PSV and a serious title tilt with Ajax; on this blustery February day Alireza Jahanbakhsh did the honours to prevent the Eindhoven club from narrowing the gap with the table-topping home side to a single point.
This fixture nine months ago was the great Cody Gakpo show, the winger taking the breath away with his movement and supplying a brace. He’s gone now, shipped off to Liverpool for €50 million; joining him in being reeled in by the great cash-engine of the Premier League in the January transfer window was fellow wide player Noni Madueke, signed by Chelsea for another €35 million. And thus it was left to Xavi Simons, the teenaged Barcelona academy product, to catalyse PSV in attack. It was a role the young winger filled with aplomb from the off; his diagonal ball in the 8th minute teed up Anwar El Ghazi in front of goal, with the former Aston Villa man sliding the ball into the far corner to give the visitors an early advantage. It was the on-pitch highlight of a first half which also saw the entire ground unite in a minute of applause for PSV press officer Thijs Slegers, who this week revealed he is terminally ill.
Feyenoord dominated possession and managed some delicate approach play as the half wore on, but didn’t seriously trouble the PSV goal until early in the second period, when visiting goalkeeper Walter Benitez saved Santiago Gimenez’s header, then saw Quinten Timber’s follow-up roll into his arms. Timber, along with Feyenoord captain Orkun Kökcü one of the chief culprits for the home side’s ineffectiveness in possession, was withdrawn shortly afterwards as part of a double-switch, with Jahanbakhsh, who had already been serenaded in song by the most vocal section of Feyenoord’s support as he warmed up, on in his stead.
Shortly after the hour mark Feyenoord were gifted a way back into the match after Armando Obispo was given his marching orders for a nasty challenge on Gimenez. Yet this seemed to give PSV a spark; Simons was particularly excellent, using his trickery on the ball to draw a host of fouls which prompted howls of frustration from the stands of a packed Kuip. With a quarter of the match to play PSV doubled their lead through Thorgan Hazard, a deadline-day loan signing from Borussia Dortmund, whose low drive beat Timon Wellenreuther at his near post. Feyenoord’s only Eredivisie loss of the 2022/23 campaign had come in Eindhoven in September, and it looked very much like the 10 men would muster a first league double against the Rotterdam club since the 17/18 season.
Any illusions that Feyenoord would accept their fate were shattered by Jahanbakhsh’s conversion of an Oussama Idrissi cross with ten minutes of the 90 remaining. The stands churned into life as play unfolded in the section of the pitch closest to Feyenoord’s hardest-core supporters. Yet though PSV boss Ruud van Nistelrooy was apoplectic after nine minutes of added time were tacked on to the second half, a flailing Feyenoord looked like they could have played another hour without scoring. That was, until Jahanbakhsh took aim at the far corner; his shot beat Benitez before ricocheting off the post and trickling over the line. For the second year running, PSV will rue letting a lead slip in the sixth minute of stoppage time. Feyenoord, for their part, will wonder what could have been if they had been sharper in front of goal.
Inthehalfspace 