He doesn’t expect it, but he hopes for it. For coach Ruud van Nistelrooij it would be “a miracle” if PSV secured the Europa League round of 16 after Thursday’s game against Arsenal.

To do so, PSV must beat Arsenal in Eindhoven (kick-off 18.45 CET) and Bodø/Glimt, number three in the group, cannot win at FC Zurich. “We all hope for that, and it’s possible,” says Van Nistelrooij.

It is more likely for the coach that the battle for second place will not be decided until next week in Norway at PSV’s Bodø/Glimt away game.

Van Nistelrooij is confident PSV won’t show another moment of weakness against the Premier League leaders as they did against FC Groningen (4-2). As a result, the Eindhoveners gave away three goals within seven minutes and the game a little later.

“We’re in elite sport, so we’re not made of sugar. We’ll just keep going,” said Van Nistelrooij, who didn’t want to change anything after Sunday. “Because the general picture of the game against Groningen was consistent with the five games we played before.”

Carefully

Van Nistelrooij does not yet know whether he will give Luuk de Jong, Noni Madueke or Mauro Júnior a starting place in his team. The three potential starters recently celebrated their comeback after a long injury break.

“We’re careful with them because they’ve been gone for a long time. We’ll need them for the next five games. We still have to build them up for ninety minutes, but they can certainly play a half,” says Van Nistelrooij.

One thing is clear to Van Nistelrooij: miracles happen. “We saw that in Groningen last Sunday.”