PSV Eindhoven and Borussia Dortmund shared a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie on Tuesday with Donyell Malen and Luuk de Jong scoring the goals in either half as the hosts fought back from a goal down at Philips Stadion. The Germans' former PSV man Malen was on a mission from the off and was running at Peter Bosz' defense from the first whistle in the Netherlands and it was no surprise that the Oranje international opened the scoring after 24 minutes with the help of the post.
Instead of being overawed, though, the Dutch giants raised their game and were arguably the better side when they did finally pull level 11 minutes into the second half when De Jong scored from the penalty spot after a dubious foul was awarded in Malik Tillman's favor. However, PSV certainly merited their draw and can now approach the return trip to Signal Iduna Park in Germany with greater optimism having proved that they belong at this stage of the UCL after many dismissed this matchup as a meeting of two of the lesser lights of this knockout round.
Thierry, @MicahRichards and @Carra23 break down the performance of PSV's @USMNT trio against Dortmund 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/Zcdgo0fKdw
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) February 20, 2024
The home side are not Eredivisie leaders for nothing, though, and showed their pedigree with a vibrant and determined showing in Eindhoven which illustrated why they are unbeaten in the league and such a force to be reckoned with domestically this season. Hirving Lozano, Johan Bakayoko, Ismail Saibari, Malik Tillman and De Jong all combined to create a greater number of opportunities for PSV and dominate possession with the help of Joey Veerman in the midfield but the goal did not tell the story of Boeren's performance.
Tillman, Lozano and Bakayoko all enjoyed good openings for the hosts with the USMNT man particularly guilty of wasting a very good opportunity when played in by De Jong and then heading wide when flagged offside after Dortmund had gone 1-0 up. Walter Benitez did redeem himself for Malen's opening goal with a fine second half save to deny the Dutchman but it was a rare opening for a Dortmund side who looked second best for most of this one despite having finished ahead of Paris Saint-Germain in the group stage.
De Jong was quieter than usual despite trying to impose his physique against Alexander Meyer who was a last minute call-up for a starting role after Gregor Kobel's injury in the warm-up dictated that he could not feature in this one. The PSV captain found the back of the net when it mattered, though, to ensure that his team came away with the result that they deserved despite the way that the result was obtained by Tillman's lackluster control and Mats Hummels' misfortune.
Twitter waits for it. Twitter gets it. What a joke of a penalty against us. Again! I cannot believe there can be decisions like today or against Chelsea or PSG with the VAR.
— Mats Hummels (@matshummels) February 20, 2024
Speaking via social media after the game, the German defender blasted the decision and branded it 'a joke': "Twitter waits for it," he said on X. "Twitter gets it. What a joke of a penalty against us. Again! I cannot believe there can be decisions like today or against Chelsea or PSG with the VAR." Away from being lambasted by Hummels, Tillman made history with fellow USMNT players Sergino Dest and Ricardo Pepi once the latter came on after 75 minutes with the first time that three Americans have been on the field at the same time in a UCL knockout game.
Overall, though, PSV will be satisfied with the scenario and their ability to take a point when they could have missed out completely although they will equally feel aggrieved that they perhaps did not shade it 2-1 given Tillman's first half miss. The Eredivisie leaders and the Dutch soccer coefficient lives to fight another day and Bosz's men will now aim to surprise his former club away from home in front of the Yellow Wall in a few weeks' time.
