Valentijn Driessen reacts after PSV vs Shakhtar Donetsk: “The match-up is too small”

A football match remains, for better or worse, a snapshot—except not for Valentijn Driessen. The journalist from De Telegraaf links black-and-white opinions to the results of any football match and not too few either. Driessen therefore also has a sharp opinion to air about PSV - Shakhtar Donetsk.

'You can see that Dutch football is even a size too small for Ukraine', begins the critic in his column in De Telegraaf and in conversation with NH Radio Sportcafé. The match at the Philips Stadium therefore failed to impress him.

Valentijn Driessen is even seriously concerned about the development of Dutch football when he presents an analysis of the match between PSV and Shakhtar Donetsk. PSV and Feyenoord are falling short in Europe, Driessen thinks. According to the journalist, the level of Eredivisie clubs is dropping further and further, and even the top teams can no longer keep up in the Champions League. In short, concerns for PSV and Feyenoord.

"You just see at the moment that Dutch football is a bit too small, even for Ukraine", Driessen begins in the NH Radio Sportcafé, referring to the poor performances of PSV and Feyenoord in the Champions League. The Rotterdammers lost 5-1 to Barcelona, PSV played at home to a 1-1 draw with Shakhtar Donetsk. "It’s a shame, but at the same time it’s also a disgrace. Even when you look at Feyenoord’s budget, they then play against FC Barcelona, so I understand that, but PSV against Shakhtar should simply have been three points."

"You keep sinking further down that European ranking", continues Driessen, referring to the UEFA coefficients list that determines how many European spots the Netherlands gets based on results over the last five years. It crashes hard, sure. "So you’ll also get fewer in the Champions League. Next year there will only be one team that qualifies directly... That’s a real shame for the development of Dutch football."

Driessen also points to the budgets of the Dutch top clubs. Those could well end up under pressure in the coming years. "There is a lot of money to be made directly, but also indirectly. Players become worth much more when they play in the Champions League. I especially expected more from PSV. They really had very little creativity. They really missed Saibari and Veerman", Valentijn Driessen said in his analysis of PSV - Shakhtar Donetsk.