Atleti beats PSV to surge up the standings
Atletico Madrid came from behind to beat PSV Eindhoven 3-2 away and move to seventh spot in the Champions League standings, all but ensuring its progress to the knockout stages.
Julian Alvarez, David Hancko and Alexander Sorloth all took advantage of some sloppy defending by the Dutch team to score after PSV had taken an early lead through Guus Til.
The Spanish side had to hold on desperately at the end as PSV came surging back when Ricardo Pepi pulled back a goal five minutes from time.
It set up a grandstand finish with a vociferous crowd urging the home side on but despite several chances PSV could not force a dramatic late draw.
The home side was hoping to build on the momentum of its shock 4-1 win at Liverpool in its last Champions League outing at the end of last month and got off to a rapid start at the Philips Stadion.
But it was undone by mistakes and in the end slipped from 15th to 19th in the standings.
Atletico, 12th prior to the PSV match, has 12 points from six matches, which should be enough to secure it a spot in at least the playoffs if last season’s tallies are an indicator.
PSV still has much to do as it remains on eight points with fixtures to come away against Newcastle United and home to Bayern Munich next month.
The host swept into an early lead with a quick counter-attack, set up by Joey Veerman and with Couhaib Driouech unselfishly feeding Til for an easy finish in the 10th minute.
But just as it was looking comfortably in command, PSV was caught when a shallow pass out of defence from goalkeeper Matej Kovar to Yarek Gasiorowski was stolen away by Giuliano Simeone, who fed Sorloth and then Alvarez for the 37th-minute equaliser.
Hancko finished off a rebound in the 52nd minute to put Atletico in front, and four minutes later Sorloth easily headed home from Pablo Barrios’s pin-point cross with the home defenders nowhere to be seen.
PSV, who have netted several late goals in the Champions League, set up a tense finish when a corner was flicked on by Ivan Perisic and touched in at the back post by fellow substitute Pepi.
Armando Obispo missed a gilt-edged chance to snatch a point on the stroke of fulltime.
“We ended up suffering unnecessarily. We could have scored more goals if we had been more clinical. We suffered but the important thing is the three points,” Alvarez said.
"I think we're not creating the chances and they were," said PSV captain Jerdy Schouten. "They're very lethal. Especially in the second half, we could have done better.
"We started the match well but it was the small things that decided it. It became static, we couldn't get out of the way, got nervous and didn't perform as well. We picked it up well in the second half and so it's a shame to lose."
