Hard-fought win over PSV keeps Atlético dreaming of the top eight | OneFootball

Great victory for Atlético de Madrid on Dutch soil that brings us closer to the top-8, once again this season. A well-deserved triumph, against a PSV side that had convincingly beaten teams like Napoli and Liverpool in the Champions, and was not going to make things easy for Atlético. This situation adds even more value to what Cholo Simeone’s pupils have achieved, and also greatly restores the team’s morale after last week’s two defeats.

Things didn’t start well for Atlético, conceding a goal in the 9th minute, which hit us like a hammer blow, bringing back the ghosts we see every time the team plays away from the Metropolitano. Driouech got behind Nahuel Molina, who lost a bit of focus in the run, asking for an offside that wasn’t there, and with the whole wing open for the Dutch team’s player, he made a great decision in the final play by delivering a goal assist to Guus Til, who simply had to push it into the net.

The wings were working for PSV when it came to creating danger, but they lacked accuracy in finishing at goal. But little by little, Atlético began to settle, creating play and danger, especially through pressing to recover the ball, and it started to feel like the equalizer in this Champions clash was much closer than a second goal for PSV.

That feeling grew, especially when we saw chances like Sørloth’s after a pass from Julián Álvarez, which could well have been the first for the red-and-whites, but the Norwegian didn’t quite get the header right.

It was a phase of the match where the Dutch side kept creating danger, but most of the danger was actually much closer to PSV’s own goal. Until, just past the half-hour mark, after great pressing as the local goalkeeper tried to play out from the back, Giuliano forced Kovar’s error, Sørloth recovered the ball, and after getting into the box, laid it off to Julián, who only had to tap it in. All to put the score at one-all on the scoreboard.

That partnership would repeat itself two minutes before halftime, but the Norwegian’s shot from the Argentine’s pass was saved by Kovar to prevent Atleti’s second.

Second half of goals, excitement, and suffering

The start of the second half was reminiscent of the first. PSV pushed again to try to retake the lead on the Champions scoreboard, and came close, but Atlético prevented it and then immediately went ahead at the Philips Stadion.

It came from a corner won by Nico González, which ended in a clearance by the hosts. The ball fell to Molina at the edge of the box, who unleashed a tremendous shot, brilliantly saved by the goalkeeper. But he couldn’t prevent a rebound that Hancko sent into the back of the net, putting us ahead and starting to lay the foundation for a hugely important win to get into the top-8.

Soon came the goal that would end up sealing the victory. In a four-minute span, Atleti scored the two goals that would ultimately give us the three points, with the Sørloth and La Araña partnership returning to the spotlight, and Barrios as a special guest.

The Argentine star spotted Barrios’ run down the left wing perfectly, leading the counterattack well, and then sent a cross to the Norwegian, who headed it back across the goalkeeper, to the far post, in a textbook and effective finish.

From there, Atlético put the game to sleep and PSV couldn’t create any real danger until the 85th minute. That’s when Pepi got the better of Marc Pubill, who had played a sensational defensive game, but lost out in this instance. Perisic flicked the ball to the far post and there came the second goal for the Dutch. Time to suffer.

A goal that really complicated the end of the match. In the closing stages, PSV threw everything forward to try to equalize and came close, when Obispo, with an open goal, missed the 3-3 after a great cross from Perisic. Ruggeri did just enough to prevent the goal and the loss of two points.

A great win and the feeling that the top-8 is closer and that it’s in our own hands to achieve it.

But that will be in 2026. Now it’s time to focus on Valencia.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.