It’s been a long time coming, it’s now official. It only took one point to capture the 25th title in its history. With the victory (4-2) against Sparta Rotterdam, PSV Eidhoven is crowned Eredivisie champion 2023-2024. The very first for his trainer, Peter Bosz, who arrived in the south of the Netherlands last year.
The match got off to a bad start as, for only the third time this season, a team took the lead against PSV. Metinho opened the scoring in the 8th minute, leaving a shiver of fear in the Philips Stadion. But the occasion was too good to celebrate, which had already started a few days ago in the city. And like every time it was behind, the Eidhoven club managed not to lose. He even reversed the score, to win largely, thanks to an own goal from Saïd Bakari (19th, 1-1, csc), and achievements from Johan Bakayoko (26th, 2-1), Olivier Boscagli (3-2) and finally Jordan Teze (78th, 4-2).
PSV are total, absolute champions, who have left only crumbs to their opponents. The former OL coach made a team frustrated by four consecutive second places (not counting the 2019-2020 season, stopped due to Covid), an almost unbeatable group and intractable with its opponents. Its only defeat, against NEC Nijmegen on the 27th day (1-3), only slightly spoiled a largely dominated season, with 28 victories and three draws.
Winners of their first 17 Championship matches, the Lampes made the third best start in the history of the Championship. A message for the rest of the season. The Dutch coach’s philosophy, focused on all-out attack, has worked: the team has already scored 107 goals. Including an 8-0 record last weekend against Heerenveen. This tactic has allowed captain Luuk de Jong to be the most formidable player in the Championship: he is at the top of the scorer rankings (27 goals) and the decisive assist rankings (18 assists). In this category, five players from the new champion appear in the top 10. With 3.3 goals per match, 64.1% possession on average and 95.3 xG over the entire season, PSV Eindhoven are champions in all categories.
In defense, a fragile axis in recent seasons, the Boeren have only conceded 19 goals. Goalkeeper Walter Benitez, formerly of OGC Nice, achieved 18 clean sheets, the highest total this season. A defensive resistance led by French defender Olivier Boscagli, also formerly of Nice.
With 87 points at the end of this day, the Eredivisie champion can become the best team in the history of the Championship. He has two matches left to continue to enter the record books, and leave a thrill of a completely different nature in the country.
