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Focus on the Bianconeri's Euro rival: the bomber, the brain, the frightening Eredivisie record and Europe as a new stage
Juventus ' debut in the new Champions League is approaching . In a calendar that will be full of events between Serie A and the 'Cup with the big ears' , the Bianconeri will play the first match of the new European format on September 17 against PSV Eindhoven : appointment at the Allianz Stadium with start at 18.45. A challenge that is anything but trivial for Thiago Motta 's Bianconeri , because the Dutch Biancorossi are coming off an incredible year and have started the new season in exactly the same way.
Farewell to Van Nistelrooy and the beginning of the Bosz era
The 2022/23 season for PSV has seen ups and downs, with the resignation of coach Ruud van Nistelrooy just days before the last match of the championship. The Dutch coach and former striker (now second to Ten Hag at Manchester United and in pole position to take over if the Red Devils do not significantly change cruising speed) no longer felt supported by the club, despite winning two trophies in 9 months : the Super Cup and the Dutch Cup. But the club was interested in winning the championship, which had been missing since 2018: and so PSV decided to start again with Peter Bosz . The change of pace in the Eredivisie was evident right away: with the Hungarian coach, after the success in the Super Cup, 16 consecutive victories arrived in the first 16 matchdays of the championship (followed by a draw), closing the first half of the season with 49 points out of 51 available.
As if that wasn't enough, Bosz managed to lead Eindhoven to the Champions League round of 16 after eight years since the last time . The final result? Championship victory after 6 years with 91 points obtained out of 102 available : a practically perfect record. Added to this is the best defense, with just 21 goals conceded, and the best attack with an incredible 111 goals scored . The race in Europe instead stopped in the round of 16, but only in front of finalist Borussia Dortmund (still managing to stop the yellow and blacks at 1-1 in the first leg). And this year?
PSV, impressive record: 20 goals in 5 games
To prove that last year's incredible season was no accident, PSV has started the 2024/25 season in practically the same way. If this year there was a defeat in the debut against Feyenoord in the Johan Cruijff Schaal (that is, the Dutch Super Cup, and in any case only on penalties), the start in the Eredivisie has been simply impeccable. 5 games, 3 at home and 2 away, and 5 victories ; 3 goals conceded (even "too many" for what was seen last season), but an incredible 20 goals scored.
The 5-1 at the Philips Stadion against RKC Waalwijk and the 7-1 away win against Almere City stand out . The club's targeted purchases have contributed to making PSV a practically perfect machine (also thanks to the return in 2022 of Marcel Brands as general manager, who had left the club in 2018 - right after the last championship won before last year's - to go to Everton). But it is also and above all Bosz's way of playing that makes the red and whites a tough opponent...
How Peter Bosz's PSV plays
PSV Eindhoven alternates a 4-2-3-1 with a 4-3-3 , playing practically with a module that mirrors that of Motta's Juve . Bosz imposes on his team a football that is first and foremost vertical, with central defender Olivier Boscagli who, born as a midfielder, has moved his range of action back to become the playmaker of the rearguard. A non-trivial choice, considering that he is one of the players in the squad who tends to verticalize the team's game the most (second behind the real fulcrum of PSV's game, who we will talk about later). Equally important is the role of the full-backs, who in fact become real attacking wingers during the game : among these is the former Serie A acquaintance Sergino Dest , formerly of Milan and Barcelona, who however will not be there against Juventus.
Continuous alternation between the full-backs and the true wingers of the trident: one attacks on the lane of competence, the other becomes a reference in the central area of the field. Equally precious in Bosz's game is the non-possession phase, with PSV applying an immediate counter-attack and with the team becoming short, the defensive line rising and with the maneuvering space for the opponent becoming minimal. Ok the game, then, but who are the most valuable individuals in the Dutch eleven?
De Jong, Lozano, Veerman: goals and brains PSV
One of those who inevitably steals the show at PSV is the immortal Luuk de Jong . The Dutch striker recently turned 34, yet last season was undoubtedly (at least in terms of goals) the best season of his career. The centre forward scored 29 goals in the Eredivisie, becoming the league's top scorer (tied with Vaggelis Paulidis of Az Alkmaar, who is at Benfica this year) to which he added 15 assists: in the goals + assists ranking he came in first by a long way. In this start to the championship, de Jong has only scored 1 goal in 4 games, but with 4 key passes provided.
In the Eindhoven team's explosive start to the season, the one who stole the show was a recent acquaintance of the Italian championship: Hirving Lozano , a Mexican winger who played 4 seasons at Napoli (also winning the Scudetto) and who before his time in Naples had already played for PSV for 2 years. After an excellent last season, up to now he has 4 goals and 1 assist in just 222' minutes played spread over 4 matches, with an average of 1 goal every 56' . After 2 games as a substitute, Bosz has fielded him as a starter in the following 2, with evidently positive effects. Side note: Lozano will remain at PSV until the end of the calendar year, having signed a contract with San Diego FC , a MLS club, starting on January 1, 2025 and ending on December 31, 2028. However, the former Napoli player will miss the match against the Bianconeri . Not just goals for PSV, however...
Veerman the brain of Bosz's team
Moving beyond the attack, without forgetting Malik Tillman , a Bayern Munich -trained playmaker who acts as a link between midfield and the attacking department, the true fulcrum of the team is one: Joey Veerman . A former advanced playmaker who began playing as a playmaker in the 3-man midfield with Bosz, he is the brain of the team and the one who creates most of PSV's goal-scoring chances. In 2023/24 in the Eredivisie, he created 130 chances : no one like him in Holland (the second in the ranking was Calvin Stengs of Feyenoord with 71, practically half).
After 4 days in the current championship, needless to say, he is still leading this special ranking. To conclude, two side notes on the transfer market: PSV has secured another player from Serie A, namely the former Roma player Rick Karsdorp ; also official is the purchase of the very promising 21-year-old central defender Adamo Nagalo , who arrived permanently from Nordsjaelland , for a figure that should be around 7 million euros.
Bosz and PSV's history with Juve
But what are the precedents with Peter Bosz's Juve? And PSV? As for the first, there are two past clashes between the Hungarian coach and the Bianconeri . Both date back to the 2019/20 season, when at the helm of Bayer Leverkusen he crossed paths with the team then coached by Maurizio Sarri in the Champions League groups. In both matches it was Juve who won: 3-0 in Turin with goals from Higuain, Bernardeschi and Cristiano Ronaldo, then in Germany 2-0 with goals again from CR7 and the 'Pipita'.
As for PSV Eindhoven, however, there are no precedents in official matches against Juve . The red and whites have faced Italian teams several times (above all Milan with 8 matches, then Inter with 4 and so on) but never the black and whites. The one on September 17 at the Allianz Stadium, therefore, will be a first.