Luuk de Jong scored a brace of goals as 10-man PSV Eindhoven put in a commanding first-half display but were then forced to hold on for victory in a 3-2 Champions League win over Red Star Belgrade at a freezing Stadion Rajko Mitic on Tuesday.
Ryan Flamingo scored the Dutch club’s third goal but when he was sent off early in the second period, the momentum shifted towards the home side and they netted through headers from Cherif Ndiaye and Nasser Djiga.
PSV remain on course for the playoffs with 11 points from their seven matches, while Red Star are out of contention having managed three points from the same number of fixtures.
PSV hit the front as De Jong rose to meet an outswinging corner from Joey Veerman and powered his header from 15 yards into the far corner of the net. He added a second from another Veerman corner shortly afterwards.
The visitors had a third before halftime and again it came from a corner as Red Star could only clear the ball to the edge of the box and centre back Flamingo volleyed home a thunderous strike.
But Flamingo’s joy turned to disbelief when he received a straight red card five minutes into the second period after he brought down Nemanja Radonjic on the edge of the box and was deemed to be the last defender.
Red Star felt they had a chance with a numerical advantage and they pulled two goals back as Ndiaye and Djiga scored with headers, but despite heavy pressure in the closing minutes, they couldn’t find an equalising goal.
