HSV booked their ticket to the last 16 of the Europa League in Eindhoven on Thursday night. The Rothosen lost the heart-stopping encouter 2-3 on the night, but Marcell Jansen's first leg spot kick was enough to seem them through, in a blood and thunder game which could hardy have been more dramatic. But first things first...
 
Torrential rain greeted the players as they emerged under the floodlights of the Philips Stadium which was filled by 30,000 spectators, around 3,000 of which had made the journey from Hamburg. Only 78 seconds after English referee Mike Dean  started the game, visiting keeper Frank Rost was fishing the ball from the back of his net. The newly-formed HSV defence (Jansen remained in Hamburg with the flu, as did Ruud van Nistelrooy because of a muscular problem) failed to pick up dangerman Dzsudzsak, who latched onto a pass which split the HSV defence. His blocked shot fell to the feet of Toivonen, (who missed gilt-edged chances in Hamburg). This time though, Marcus Berg's strike partner in the Swedish under-21 team made no mistake,  firing PSV ahead to give the home side the perfect start by equalising the goal scored by Jansen in Hamburg a week earlier. What a start!

So there were 89 minutes to be played, and PSV (under the former England manager Steve McClaren) had rubbed out the Hamburg advantage from the opening leg. The visitors digested that early setback well, and after 7 minutes Dutch winer Eljero Elia fired an opening warning shot from distance, but his effort was wayward, and never troubled Swedish national team keeper Isaksson guarding the PSV goal. HSV began to play their part, but after combining well to reach the opposing area, they seemed to run out of ideas at first.
 
The visitors were unable to breach the massed Eindhoven defence which seemed determined to defend their slender but precious lead, while waiting for a chance to hit Hamburg on the break. Piotr Trochowski, ever-busy, started the game on the right of midfield, but began to move to a more central position where he pulled the midfield strings well. The Germany midfielder was always a handful for PSV  to deal with. It was not a lightning-quick counter attack, but a dead ball which would put the home side into the driving seat moments before the halftime break. Once again Dzsudzsak was involved, blasting a free kick from a central position just outside the Hamburg area. On its way towards goal Mladen Petric gave the ball a wicked deflection which left Rost no chance as he once again found himself picking the ball out of his own net. The home side led 2-0 at the break. Should things remain that way after 90 minutes, McClaren and Co. would advance to the next round.
 
Immediate response
As was the case in the opening half, the 30,000-strong crowd would have been well advised to take their seats as quickly as possible for the start of the second half, because there was again goalmouth action from the off. Bruno Labbadia responded to the late goal at the end of the first half by replacing Tesche with Pitroipa in the right of midfield, where PSV's Dzsudzsak had simply mesmerised Tesche. Fourty seven seconds after the restart, the majority of people inside the Philips Arena were stunned into silence, while at the same time the contingent of HSV faithful were in raptures of joy, as Trochowski fed Petric with a fine ball which took him into the PSV area, where the Croatian striker got to the ball first before poking it past the-advancing Isaksson and into the empty net. What a start!

It seemed as if the game was turning HSV's way, especially as Dzsudzsak pushed match referee Read as he did not agree with a decision. The ref reached for his back pocket and brandished a straight red card.  PSV's most dangerous player went off to take an early shower. The game became more gritty, with many fouls on both sides bordering on a straight red card than a booking. Demel had been cautioned in the first half for such an offense and that booking brought his downfall on 73 minutes as he was rightly booked again and sent off. Judging by the reaction of the Ivorian, it looked as if he had not seen the initial booking.
 
Stormy end to a fantastic game
From then on it was ten men against ten men and it was real end to end stuff, with dramatic moments for both sides almost by the minute. The killer blow came in the 78th minute, seconds after Labbadia had replaced Petric with Jerome Boateng. The Germany defender was in the thick of it right away and was nudged off the ball inside the Eindhoven area. The local crowd could not believe it as Read (rightly) pointed to the spot. The resulting penalty was bravely blasted into the middle of the goal by Trochowski to put the visitors well on the road to victory.
 
Rost high and dry
PSV would ne need two goals to progress. One of those goals was scored as Rost came out for a corner but missed the ball and lost his way, which allowed substitute Koevermans to head the ball into an empty goal (89.). What drama. The fourth official held up his board which read 5 minutes of added time. The whole HSV team fought tooth and nail to hang onto their aggregate lead, much to the delight of Labbadia and the hordes of travelling faithful. What a game and what a result. There was loud applause right around the arena as the final whistle was blown.
 
Party time
That applause could have been for the home side who gave their all and could just have easily have won the game. We however would like to think that Eindhoven has passionate fans who understand the game, and that at least a small part of that applause was also for HSV, whose never say die attitude commanded respect. Now HSV can focus on the "little matter" of their round 24 Bundesliga trip on Sunday (28.2.10, 17.30 CET) , when they will lock horns with Bayern in the Allianz-Arena in Munich.
 
Bring it on!
           
Match details:
 
PSV Eindhoven: Isaksson - Manolev (26. Ooijer), Rodriguez (80. Koevermans), Salcido, Pieters, - Engelaar - Bakkal (71. Labyad), Afellay, Dzsudzsak - Lazovic, Toivonen
 
Hamburger SV: Rost - Demel, Rozehnal, Mathijsen, Aogo - Zé Roberto, Rincón - Tesche (46. Pitroipa), Elia, Trochowski (89. Berg) - Petric (77. Boateng)
 
Goals: 1:0 Toivonon (02.), 2:0 Dzsudzsak (43.), 2:1 Petric (46.), 2:2 Trochowski (79./pen.), 3:2 Koevermans (90.)
 
Att: 30.000
 
Referee: Michael Dean (England)
 
Booked: Toivonen, Engelaar, Salcido, Koevermans / Tesche, Rincón, Mathijsen
 
Two bookings: - / Demel (74.)
 
Red card: Dzsudzsak (55.) / -