Forbs strikes as Club Brugge win 2-1 at PSV
Club Brugge came from being pegged back to beat PSV 2-1 at the Philips Stadium, with Carlos Forbs scoring the 65th-minute winner.
By Harvey Watkins,
Club Brugge won 2-1 at the Philips Stadium on Wednesday night, taking all three points from their Champions League Matchday 4 visit to PSV. Nicolo Tresoldi gave them the lead in the first half, Kodai Sano levelled for PSV after the interval, and Carlos Forbs scored the goal that settled it with 25 minutes still to play.
The goals
- 25 minutes: Nicolo Tresoldi, Club Brugge (0-1)
- 54 minutes: Kodai Sano, PSV (1-1)
- 65 minutes: Carlos Forbs, Club Brugge (1-2)
Tresoldi's opener
Tresoldi struck in the 25th minute, and it was the only goal of the first half. That meant PSV went in at the break a goal down on their own ground, with 45 minutes to find a response. A one-goal lead at half-time is rarely decisive in itself, and for a spell after the restart this one looked as though it would not be enough.
Sano's equaliser and Forbs's reply
PSV found their response nine minutes into the second half, when Sano scored in the 54th minute to make it 1-1. At that point the home side had erased the deficit and had more than half an hour in which to go on and win the match.
The parity lasted 11 minutes. Forbs restored Club Brugge's lead in the 65th minute, and it proved to be the last goal of the night. PSV had the final 25 minutes and stoppage time to find a second equaliser and did not manage it.
What the result says
The most telling feature of the evening, from Club Brugge's point of view, is that they answered being pegged back. Conceding an equaliser away from home can knock a side off course, but they were in front again within a quarter of an hour and did not concede a second. Once Forbs had scored, the closing stages were about protecting a lead rather than chasing one, and they protected it.
From PSV's side, the sequence is the damaging part. They did the harder thing in coming from behind, then gave the lead straight back before they could build on the equaliser. A draw at home would not have been a remarkable outcome after trailing at half-time. Losing it from level is a different matter.
It is worth being measured about how much a single result shows. A scoreline records when the goals came and who scored them, but it does not say which side had the better of the play, and one match is a narrow base for broad conclusions about either team. What can be said is that Club Brugge scored twice away from home and came through the one period of the match when the game had swung back towards PSV.
How much the three points matter for either side's campaign will depend on the matches still to come. For now, the night belonged to Club Brugge, and to Forbs in particular.