A wasteful PSV Eindhoven was spared from facing a deficit after the first leg of their Round of 16 tie with Borussia Dortmund, with Malik Tillman drawing a key penalty in a game that also saw Sergiño Dest and Ricardo Pepi get in on the action.
PSV Eindhoven 1 – 1 Borussia Dortmund
Both Tillman and Dest were in the starting lineup from Peter Bosz in PSV’s Philips Stadion, as they looked to overcome their underdog status against the the German team that has, to be fair, struggled for results this season more often than in recent years.
Despite still being underdogs to reach the final eight of the competition, the team can take some confidence out of the drawn result, since they were generally more in control, and could have taken a convincing victory were it not for their own wastefulness on several occasions.
Tillman was one of PSV’s top performers for the evening, playing the full game on the right side of the midfield, while taking one shot, setting up a pair of chances, winning the crucial penalty for the equalizer, and forcing the Dortmund defenders into four fouls in total.
Dest lined up on the left side of the defensive four, and was heavily involved with 81 touches, 45 completed passes in 47 attempts, one late shot on-target and three successful dribbles in six attempts, while winning nine out of 13 duels and also drawing four fouls.
In the 16th minute, Tillman could have done better with PSV’s first real chance of the game; after receiving the ball from Luuk de Jong just outside the box with plenty of space and time to pick out his preferred spot anywhere across the face of goal, he instead sent his low shot wide left.
Dormund then seized the advantage and control of the overall flow, and jumped into the lead eight minutes later. After PSV coughed up possession inside their own half of the field, Marcel Sabitzer slid the ball towards to Donyell Malen just beyond the top of the area.
The former PSV attacker rounded Dest as he worked forward and placed his shot just beyond his attempted block to the near upper corner, where it bounced off the underside of the crossbar and over the line for the 1-0 lead.
The hosts equalized 11 minutes after the break, finishing off a short spell of dominance with a somewhat lucky reward for their efforts.
Ismael Saibari streaked forward up the left flank before cutting a diagonal pass back to Tillman just outside the area. While his first touch receiving the pass was a poor one, sending the ball several yards ahead of him into the area, his foward move to recover possession was impeded by Mats Hummels, whose attempted clearance upended the American, leading to a clear penalty.
Team talisman Luuk de Jong took the subsequent spot kick, making a momentary stutter on his run up before beating Dortmund keeper Alexander Meyer to the lower left corner.
Pepi entered the game with 15 minutes left in place of Mexican international Hirving Lozano, as Bosz urged his squad to find a winner. He was relatively limited in impact, with just 12 touches and no shots in his short time on the field.
The 21 year-old USMNT star and his Dutch-American teammate did team up for a late attempt on the Dortmund goal with just nine minutes remaining. Pepi received a forward pass from Dest on the left flank, before returning the ball on an overlapping run. Dest proceeded to make a cut past his marking defender, Julian Ryerson, leaving the Norwegian sprawling on the turf, before unleashing a shot from the left side that Meyer had to block at his near post.
The final whistle finally blew after seven minutes of added time, leaving the teams on even terms ahead of their second leg in Germany in three weeks.
PSV have several Eredivisie games to play before their March 13 return leg in Dortmund, the first being at Zwolle on Saturday.
Notes
Diego Kochen might be on the Barcelona bench as their third keeper on Wednesday night, when they visit Italian team Napoli in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie.