Ryan Flamingo and Malik Tillman scored first half goals as a dominant PSV Eindhoven picked up a first win of their Champions League campaign with an impressive 4-0 victory over 10-man Girona at the Philips Stadion yesterday.
Flamingo netted his first Champions League goal when he turned in Tillman’s long throw, though replays suggested the latter’s foot was in the field of play and the effort should have been disallowed.
Tillman added a second when he burst into the box unopposed and produced a fine finish, before Johan Bakayoko’s low drive from the edge of the box and an own goal from Ladislav Krejci sealed an emphatic victory for the Dutch club, who move into the play-off places with five points.
Girona, who are outside of those knockout places in 26th position with three points, were not helped by a second yellow card for captain Arnau Martinez 10 minutes into the second half and might have lost by a greater margin as PSV hit the post and missed several other opportunities.
Girona offered little threat going forward but forced a superb early double save from PSV goalkeeper Walter Benitez. He pushed away Krejci’s low shot and seconds later denied Bojan Miovski at the near post. That was against the run of play and PSV went in front on 16 minutes with a fortunate goal.
Tillman’s long throw towards the six-yard box was turned into the net by Flamingo, who had got in front of his marker. But none of the officials spotted the fact the American had a foot in the field when he launched the ball towards goal.
The home side doubled their advantage after some poor Girona defending allowed Tillman to surge into the box unopposed and sweep the ball into the far corner of the net from eight yards.
PSV’s Luuk de Jong should have made it 3-0 when he was teed up perfectly by the excellent Tillman, but his effort from in front of goal struck the post and Girona were able to clear.
The evening got worse for the visitors when Martinez collected a second yellow card on 55 minutes for an unnecessary foul, and PSV were able to add two more goals. Bakayoko’s jinking run on the edge of the box ended with a perfectly placed shot low into the bottom corner, before the ball ricocheted off Krejci and into the net two minutes from fulltime.
Meanwhile, Dinamo Zagreb eased to a convincing 4-1 victory at Slovan Bratislava, recovering from an early scare to dominate the match. It took five minutes for David Strelec to put Bratislava ahead, but the visitors quickly took control of the contest.
Dario Spikic equalised five minutes later, and Petar Sucic turned the tide in Dinamo’s favour with a goal on the half-hour mark. The visitors maintained their dominance in the second half as Sandro Kulenovic netted a quick double with goals in the 54th and 72nd minutes.
The result left Bratislava in a spot of bother, searching for their first point after four matches. Dinamo are comfortable in the playoff section of the table, with seven points after four matches.