Eindhoven (The Netherlands), Dec 9 (IANS) PSV Eindhoven advanced to the knockout stages of the European Champions League as first Dutch football club since the 2006/2007 season by beating CSKA Moscow 2-1 here.
Reigning Dutch champions PSV on Tuesday needed a win to be sure of qualifying for the last 16, while a draw would be enough if group leaders VfL Wolfsburg would beat Manchester United. A defeat would mean elimination in Europe, reports Xinhua.
The hosts had chances in the first half, but failed to score. After a foul by Andres Guardado on Zoran Tosic, CSKA received a penalty, which was converted by Sergey Ignashevich in the 76th minute. With this score PSV were ousted, but Luuk de Jong equalised from close range within four minutes.
After United made it 2-2 in Wolfsburg, PSV would nevertheless be eliminated for the Champions League, but five minutes from time Davy Propper’s long distance shot earned PSV the win and at the same time Wolfsburg came 3-2 in front against United again.
With PSV’s 2-1 win against CSKA and Wolfsburg 3-2 victory against United, the Eindhoven-based side qualified for the next round as No.2 in Group B, on 10 points, two behind Wolfsburg and with two more than United, which had to settle for the Europa League, and six more than Moscow.
With the win and the qualification, PSV ended a nine-year period of Champions League misery for the Netherlands. PSV also were the previous club to survive the group phase in the 2006/07 season. That season they were ousted by later finalists Liverpool in the quarter-finals.
