In the 4-0 victory over Girona FC, several PSV players excelled. With his goal and iconic assists, Malik Tillman was rightly named man of the match. Also Mauro Júnior, described by Peter Bosz as a "soldier," played an important role in the power play at the European level.
Whereas Malik still played as a "six" during Ajax - PSV, this time that role was assigned to Mauro Júnior. "He has a more defensive mind-set," Bosz explained his choice afterwards. The 11.13 miles covered, the most of anyone on the pitch, cemented his title of soldier. The Brazilian was a veritable scourge on the opponent and seemed to be everywhere on the field. Moreover, Mauro was economical with the ball. Only twice did he surrender possession of the ball, the lowest number of any base player, and both times on the Spaniards' half of the pitch, preventing it from becoming directly dangerous. That ball loss was not due to his dribbling; in total, Mauro played past his opponent four times.
Passing
The Brazilian found his teammates blindly. Of the 44 passes he sent, 43 arrived at a fellow player. With a 98% success rate, he also topped that list. He passed a total of 18 balls forward, four of which led to a new attack. That means he not only played forward, but actually created dangerous situations.
Defensive
As a controlling midfielder, Mauro also had many defensive duties. He worked two balls away from his own sixteen-meter area, preventing dangerous situations. Four times he intervened with a tackle; twice he played the ball and twice he made a foul. In doing so, the Brazilian helped the defense with the clean sheet. In the latter part of the match, he was even moved back a line by coach Peter Bosz and was able to showcase his class as a right back.
