Brest 1-0 PSV Eindhoven: Bizot stands firm as sloppy PSV slump ...

Former AZ goalkeeper Marco Bizot shut out PSV Eindhoven as French underdogs Brest took a giant stride towards qualifying for the last 16 of the Champions League in Brittany.

Julien Le Cardinal scored the only goal of the game towards the end of the first half, while PSV twice struck the post through Ismael Saibari and Ricardo Pepi and had a penalty appeal denied by the video referee.

Captain Luuk de Jong was visibly frustrated as he looked back on a disjointed performance that leaves the Eindhoven club on eight points, just above the cut-off line with two matches of the group stage to play.

“It was very sloppy, we kept losing the ball and couldn’t get into our game,” he told Ziggo Sport. “We had the better chances but they scored from a free-kick and from then on we knew it was going to be difficult.”

PSV had the better chances in the first half, with De Jong twice denied by Bizot at close range and firing a rebound into the side netting.

Instead it was the home side who took the lead in the 43rd minute as Le Cardinal was first to react to Mama Baldé’s knock-down from a free-kick.

Brest’s well organised defence and constant pressing gave PSV constant headaches in the second half, assisted by the home side’s inability to keep possession.

The French side had chances to extend their advantage as Kamory Doumbia fired a shot from long range over the crossbar, before Walter Benitez spread himself to stop Romain Castillo from turning in a cross on the edge of the six-yard box.

Saibari was unlucky to see a curling shot from just outside the penalty area come back off the inside of the post with Bizot well beaten. The Brest keeper’s best save came in the 77th minute when he pushed the ball onto the post from Pepi’s shot.

In between PSV looked to have been thrown a lifeline when referee José María Sánchez awarded a penalty for handball, only to reverse the decision after studying the video replay.

PSV now face a crunch game in Belgrade against Red Star on January 21 before wrapping up their campaign at home to Liverpool, the only team to have won all six of their matches so far, on January 29.