Liverpool suffered a 3-2 loss against PSV Eindhoven in their final league phase game of the Champions League
PSV Eindhoven boss Peter Bosz took satisfaction from his side’s Champions League victory over Liverpool even though it wasn’t the visitors’ ‘best team’.
The Reds made a swathe of changes for the clash against the Dutch champions. Arne Slot’s men had already secured safe passage into the last 16 of the competition, winning their opening seven games. As a result, nine regular starters including captain Virgil van Dijk, talisman Mo Salah and vice-skipper Trent Alexander-Arnold did not travel to the Netherlands.
Changes made
Slot handed Champions League debuts to Jayden Danns and James McConnell while Andy Robertson was deployed as a makeshift centre-back. Liverpool suffered a 3-2 loss but they led twice in the first half through Cody Gakpo’s penalty on his return to his former club and a strike from Harvey Elliott.
But PSV displayed their potency in the final third, with Johan Bakayoko and Ismael Saibari levelling for the hosts before Ricardo Pepi was credited with the match-winner just seconds before the interval. The Reds ended the game with 10 men after 18-year-old substitute Amara Nallo was given a straight red card for denying Bakayoko with a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Liverpool still secured top spot in the new league phase of the Champions League, while PSV landed a spot in the play-off knockout round. On the win, PSV chief Bosz said: “I watched it with great pleasure. I understand very well that it wasn’t the best Liverpool team, but there was still a lot of quality on the pitch. We tried to play our best football against that. Hopefully we succeeded. Not everything went well, I also saw enough things that need to be improved, but they were beautiful goals, those by Johan (Bakayoko, ed.), but also those by Ismael, and we achieved a good victory.”
‘Really annoys me’
However, Bosz admitted he was irked by PSV showboating in the closing stages and not going for the jugular. He added: “I thought it was terrible. It really annoys me. It’s misplaced, they shouldn’t do that.
“It was a kind of rondo they played there, with a back heel and a no-look pass. If I had been in that position, I would have sawed them off below the knees. You just shouldn’t do that. I don’t think it’s respectful to the opponent. I haven’t spoken to them about it yet, but I will. I do like entertaining the crowd, but in a different way. I think we would have entertained the crowd before without all that craziness.” This was what PSV Eindhoven boss reveals
Liverpool will face either Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica, Monaco or Brest in the last 16. They’ll be watching the play-off stage avidly and PSV could face fellow Dutch outfit and Slot’s former team Feyenoord. However, Bosz would prefer a more ‘exotic’ clash. He said: “I don’t like that. When you play in Europe you hope to meet an exotic club, like Liverpool. You prefer not to play against a team from your own country and we’ve already had Juventus.”
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