EINDHOVEN, Netherlands : PSV Eindhoven strikers Luuk de Jong and Noa Lang could miss the Champions League clash at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday with a decision over their fitness to be made after training on Tuesday, coach Peter Bosz said.
Captain De Jong and Dutch international Lang missed Saturday’s 5-0 home win over Groningen in the Dutch league but the 34-year-old De Jong did return to training on Monday.
PSV will aim to move up the Champions League standings with a victory as they sit 24th on five points, just inside the playoff places and a point above Shakhtar who are 28th.
“We have to win at home, but that doesn’t just happen. You don’t just grab the points. They (Shakhtar) have very good footballers in the team and, for example, lost very unluckily and narrowly at Arsenal (1-0),” Bosz told a press conference.
“It is a team that wants to play football and wants to build up, with a goalkeeper (Dmytro Riznyk) who plays along. They want to play with short combinations from the back.
“And they dared to do that in London, with a rather daring build-up. With that they also pushed Arsenal back at times, which was impressive. And they have players with individual qualities up front. We will have to work hard.”
PSV follow the clash against the Ukraine side with a trip to Brest next month and are then at home in January to Red Star Belgrade, who have lost their opening four games, prompting expectations of securing a place in the playoffs in February.
But Bosz was not interested in any predictions.
“I am not really calculating, I try to keep it as simple as possible. If you look at the points, you see how close it is and therefore also how important tomorrow’s match is. We do not yet know how many points we will need. We will see that afterwards.”
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ken Ferris)
