"It was hot and everyone was broken, but we kept fighting." Donyell Malen was still puffing away at Veronica from the sweltering closing stages that took PSV past FC Basel. With a header, the PSV striker became match winner.
Relief
"Of course it is a huge relief when you win that first official game of the season, immediately a very important one, like that," he said in front of Veronica's camera in conversation with Helene Hendriks. Malen, who was occasionally dangerous in the deep but did not get a really big chance, also gave the supporters at the Philips Stadium quite a compliment. "The crowd stayed behind us even after FC Basel's 1-2 and that also gave us energy to keep going," Malen said.
Van Bommel: Reaction crowd best of the evening
Mark van Bommel also praised the supporters' part. "The reaction of the crowd is the most beautiful thing of this evening. They lifted us over the 1-2. We won together," said the head coach, who felt his team made a pretty good impression before halftime. "I think we started well. There was variation in our play, got a deserved lead but we just couldn't sustain that until halftime. I've talked about details in football before and now again it appears that they are decisive. We make two mistakes, they shoot two balls between the posts and they both go in."
On Monday, Van Bommel already said that FC Basel is at its strongest in home games. With a 3-2 lead, the Swiss have enough on one goal to eliminate PSV provided PSV itself does not score, of course. "It will be something next week, that's true," Van Bommel said.