PSV was eliminated by Ajax in the quarterfinals of the TOTO KNVB Beker. In Amsterdam it was 2-1 for the home team.
PSV under pressure
In a freezing Johan Cruijff ArenA, the start of the cup game bore little resemblance to the match played in the league a month ago. Whereas PSV overwhelmed the Amsterdammers then with moments of great pressure and quickly took a 0-2 lead, Wednesday night PSV were actually forced far back on their own half. With the exception of a near chance for Mauro Junior, Roger Schmidt's team hardly moved from their own half in the first quarter of an hour.
Consecutive setbacks
Nor did that change after Haller's opening goal. The Frenchman was reached after a through ball and left goalkeeper Lars Unnerstall - who was preferred to Yvon Mvogo - defenseless. A few minutes later a similar scenario unfolded, this time after a cross from the left flank. Trailing 2-0, PSV then had to look for the Ajax goal, and shortly before halftime it was also very close to scoring the tying goal. Ibrahim Sangaré poked Donyell Malen away in that depth, but the striker failed to get the ball on target.
Different keg
After halftime, PSV tried to play differently. The team was defensively fiercer and seemed more daring to play forward. A nice attack resulted in the tying goal after 58 minutes. Eventually Denzel Dumfries was played free and his cross disappeared into the goal via the leg of Ajax defender Timber: 2-1. Ajax's response followed in the form of two harsh fouls that resulted in a yellow card, whereas a red card was certainly possible.
No luck
The lack of a little luck broke PSV down. For example, a promising attack was blown off after an unfortunate collision between Eran Zahavi and Alvarez, and shortly before time Malen was also blown off after a duel with Tagliafico. In the closing stages PSV put Ajax under pressure and Dumfries came very close to an equalizer. Again, however, luck was lacking.
