Manchester United star Tyrell Malacia endured a night to forget as loan side PSV Eindhoven were dismantled 7-1 by Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie.
Jurrien Timber opened the scoring after 18 minutes before 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri and Mikel Merino extended Arsenal’s advantage inside half an hour.
Noa Lang gave PSV a glimmer of hope as he converted from the penalty spot but their optimism didn’t last for too long, as Martin Odegaard found the back of the net less than a minute after the restart, with Leandro Trossard adding a fifth moments later.
Odegaard then grabbed his brace before Riccardo Calafiori completed the rout.
PSV boss Peter Bosz named Malacia in his starting XI, as part of a back-four also consisting of Richard Ledezma on the opposite flank and a centre-back pairing of Ryan Flamingo and Olivier Boscagli.
Malacia played the entire match and during the time he was on the pitch, touched the ball 58 times and found his teammates with 23 of the 33 passes he attempted. Three of these were key passes.
The left-back made two clearances and put in as many tackles. He also contributed three interceptions.
He was beaten in six of the nine duels he contested, only coming out on top three times. Malacia made four fouls and lost possession on 14 occasions.
The 25-year-old successfully connected with two of the three crosses he aimed. He pinged six long balls but found his intended target just once.
Malacia fired one shot but he couldn’t test David Raya with the effort.
(Stats obtained from Sofascore)
Barring an unprecedented collapse, it’s safe to say that Malacia and PSV are effectively out of the League, while Arsenal are all but guaranteed a spot in the quarter-finals.
PSV will undoubtedly be looking to get back to winning ways on Saturday when they face SC Heerenveen.
Featured image Justin Setterfield via Getty Images
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Derick Kinoti
Derick Kinoti is a football writer at The Peoples Person who has covered Manchester United and the game extensively for many years. He is a keen analyst with expertise in SEO and journalism standards. Derick is convinced Wayne Rooney is the true GOAT and won’t hear otherwise!
