It was a championship game of trial and error. That was especially true for Olivier Boscagli, who brought the Philips Stadium to ecstasy with a wonderfully beautiful volley.
PSV started the game with a good dose of championship pressure against Sparta Rotterdam. Certainly Olivier Boscagli was unfortunate in the early stages. When attempting to block a shot, he hit the ball in such a way that goalkeeper Walter Benítez was left hopeless. Nevertheless, the Monegasque played a strong game and after more than an hour of play he threw off the shyness completely.
On a free kick, the center defender cleverly ran off his opponent's back. The cross from Joey Veerman was, as usual, on target and gave Olivier the opportunity to score. With a technically sublime volley he rounded off. The liberating 3-2 and the starting signal for a big party in the Philips Stadium.
Key role
Olivier sent a total of 92 passes, which amounts to almost one pass per minute. That is by far the highest number of all his teammates. Of those, only seven balls did not reach a fellow player. Just under half (38%) were in forward motion; only André Ramalho sent more passes forward (42%). Olivier can also sneak in an assist. Indeed, at a corner, he headed the ball through to Jerdy Schouten, who scored. His goal, however, was counted as an own goal, because it still involved a Sparta foot.
Dueling
Olivier did not shy away from any duel and fought for possession of the ball a total of 12 times with. The footballing central defender emerged victorious eight times. In addition, he completed six dribbles and also in this, only André completed more (8).
Razor-sharp
His sights were also on point when the visitors from Rotterdam were on the ball. He recaptured possession eight times and no teammate did so more often. During 94 minutes, he had one key moment and one goal attempt, which also resulted in a goal.
