PSV Eindhoven face Inter Milan at the Philips Stadion on Wednesday, Oct. 3. Here’s all the info you need to watch.
PSV secured the Dutch league title in three of the past four seasons under coach Phillip Cocu, who left for Fenerbahce over the summer. New manager Mark van Bommel won the Champions League as a player with Barcelona and joined PSV after serving as assistant manager to Australia at the World Cup, who were coached by his father-in-law Bert van Marwijk. It’s a measure of how far the Dutch league has fallen that it no longer even has an automatic berth in the Champions League proper, so PSV had to negotiate a play-off with Belarussian champions BATE Borisov. Only one Dutch team has made it past the group stages in the past decade — that was PSV in 2015-16, when they eventually lost on penalties in the round of 16 to eventual finalists Atlético Madrid. Nonetheless, PSV caused Barcelona problems two weeks ago at the Camp Nou, an encounter that was considerably closer for much of the game than the final 4-0 scoreline suggests.
Although Inter are one of the main reasons that there’s been so much more of a buzz about Serie A over the past year or so, they endured a poor start to the season that saw questions being asked about the long-term future of coach Luciano Spalletti. He’s since overseen a turnaround in Inter’s fortunes and their win over Cagliari on Saturday lifted his side into fourth place, even though they still haven’t managed to play well for more than 45 minutes all season. That difficult start came as a surprise, as Inter appeared to have had a good summer, keeping hold of captain and leading goalscorer Mauro Icardi while bringing in Radja Nainggolan and Stefan de Vrij. Inter were knock-out stage regulars throughout the Noughties and winners in 2009-10 — the last Italian side to lift the trophy — but this is their first CL appearance since 2011-12, with qualification only being secured on the final day of last season. Still, Spalletti has a pretty good track record in the tournament, having taken Roma to the quarter-finals twice.
The Champions League match between PSV Eindhoven and Inter Milan will be broadcast live on Bleacher Report. Live streaming is available on B/R Live, which you can access with your cable or satellite subscriptions, either online or through the Bleacher Report app.
Date: Wednesday, Oct. 3
Start time: 3 p.m. ET
Location: Eindhoven, Netherlands
Stadium: Philips Stadion
TV Info: Bleacher Report
Live Stream: B/R Live | Fubo.TV. Sign up for a free seven-day trial here.
Given that the other teams in the group are Barcelona and Spurs, this seems to be a must-win game for both sides.