‘Maybe play trick like Netherlands-Argentina’

Coach Ruud van Nistelrooij is fit again after being sick for several days. The PSV coach was on the training pitch at de Herdgang this morning ahead of the return game against Sevilla in the Europa League.

“I am happy to be here again,” Van Nistelrooij said at the press conference. It was “a strange sensation” for the coach to have to watch FC Utrecht-PSV (2-2) last Sunday at home with the family on the bench.

“I was quiet, but I was alive. I saw that at the end of the game we had a ball on the post and twice the goalkeeper saved. We just didn’t get those three points, which, again, would have been there. That’s a bummer,” he said.

Then on to the order of the day. PSV faces a mega task Thursday night in Eindhoven (kickoff 6:45 p.m.) when the number four of the Eredivisie must try to undo last week’s 3-0 defeat in Sevilla.

Van Nistelrooij does believe in a miracle. “According to the statistics and also without the statistics we need it,” the coach said.

“You have to be good and focused,” said the Brabander, who was satisfied with the first half in Sevilla despite the thick defeat. “That was our best half of the season. We tapped that level, but now we have to keep it longer. That’s what I call development.”

Van Nistelrooij hopes tomorrow night that PSV will still have sight of a desired result in the last half hour of the match. “Then maybe you can still play some tricks, as we saw for example with Netherlands-Argentina at the World Cup.”

Besides Van Nistelrooij, Ibrahim Sangaré also returned to the training field. Like the coach, the midfielder missed the away game against FC Utrecht due to flu. It is still unclear whether the 25-year-old Ivorian is fit enough for a starting place.

Van Nistelrooij will miss the injured Anwar El Ghazi, Thorgan Hazard and Savio in this match. Jason van Duiven, the current club top scorer of Jong PSV, Jenson Seelt and Simon Colyn of Jong PSV have joined the PSV selection.