All to play for as Dortmund punishes PSV’s profligacy

EINDHOVEN, the Netherlands — PSV Eindhoven coach Peter Bosz was left ruing missed chances after his side squandered several opportunities in a 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund in their Champions League last-16, first-leg tie on Tuesday.

“In the second half, we had loads of chances. It was a shame that we didn’t score a second,” Bosz told reporters after the game at Philips Stadion.

Donyell Malen snatched a vital goal to earn the Bundesliga giant the away draw at his old club but wasteful PSV was left to wonder what could have been.

The big question before kickoff was which Dortmund side would show up: the team that topped the Champions League ‘Group of Death’ or the outfit struggling for consistency in the Bundesliga?

And it was a cagey opening in an intimidating atmosphere in Eindhoven, the home fans letting off a volley of fireworks at kickoff.

“We started very nervously, I think both sides were nervous in the first minutes,” said Dortmund coach Edin Terzic.

When the smoke cleared, the host had the better of the opening exchanges, with Mexico international winger Hirving Lozano causing the Dortmund defense headaches down the left.

PSV midfielder Malik Tillman fluffed two gilt-edged chances, once firing wide after a clever through ball from veteran Dutch striker Luuk de Jong.

And the visitor punished PSV’s profligacy, taking the lead against the run of play in the 24th minute when Malen squeezed a deflected shot into the top corner.

Malen had been prolific for the Dutch giant, scoring 55 goals in all competitions in just 43 games, and chose not to celebrate in front of PSV’s hardcore fans.

The misfiring Tillman somehow then contrived to miss another goal that looked easier to score, this time with a header right in front of goal.

Then it was Belgium international winger Johan Bakayoko’s turn to scuff a shot wide, with the home fans starting to wonder if it was going to be one of those nights as they went into the break 1-0 down.

‘Zero percent a penalty’

PSV hasn’t lost at home all season and started the second half on the front foot. They were soon level.

Tillman redeemed his earlier errors by winning a penalty in the 56th minute, which De Jong slotted calmly past Alexander Meyer.

Dortmund defenders were incensed at the penalty award, insisting veteran central defender Mats Hummels had nicked the ball before bringing down Tillman.

Terzic described it as a “hard decision” and even Bosz acknowledged: “You could see from the reaction of the Dortmund players they didn’t agree with it.”

“Zero percent a penalty. Zero,” Hummels told Prime Video after the game.

“Tillman was laughing all over the place. Bakayoko was laughing himself to death. They were all grinning for minutes later.”

The controversial equalizer opened the game up, with chances at both ends, a flick by Dortmund’s Marius Wolf forcing a sharp save from Walter Benitez in the PSV goal.

With 15 minutes to go, Bakayoko danced through the Dortmund defense but failed to get sufficient power behind by his shot — summing up the night for PSV.

PSV midfielder Joey Veerman said: “I think that we had the second half completely under control and in the first half we had big chances.”

“When you look at the whole game, we had better chances than Dortmund”, he said, adding “I think that 1-1 is not all that bad a position” to take back to Dortmund.

Hummels admitted his team let the “charged atmosphere get to us too much” but was confident of advancing when the sides meet again in three weeks’ time.

“I saw a very beatable Eindhoven today. In our home game, the second leg, we simply need to play better with the ball. Then, I am very confident that we will progress,” said Hummels.

“We know we still have the second leg to play. Then, there will be 80,000 people on a Champions League night. We are unbeatable there,” added Dortmund defender Nico Schlotterbeck.