Three months ago, Danko Lazović (35) announced he was quitting football. The striker played eighty league matches for PSV between 2007 and 2010, where he achieved hero status in 2008. That happened against Vitesse, PSV's opponent on Saturday night.
April 29, 2007
If you think of PSV's most memorable championship games, PSV - Vitesse (5-1) on April 29, 2007, undoubtedly comes to mind. After round 33, AZ was leading with 75 points, Ajax (second) and PSV (third) followed with 72 points. No one had yet reckoned with a third Eindhoven title in a row. It happened anyway.
Unbelievable
"PSV HAS BECOME NATIONAL CHAMPIONS. IT IS NOT TO BELIEVE, IT IS NOT TO BELIEVE!" sounded the completely bewildered commentator Koert Westerman a little before 4:30 in the afternoon after the final whistle. The Philips stadium exploded. Supporting player Vitesse drooped in the shadows. One of the players in Arnhem service was Danko Lazović, that season's club top scorer with nineteen goals. No championship for the Serbian, but a transfer to PSV.
356 days after
The final day of the Eredivisie in 2007 appeals so much to the imagination that you would almost forget that one season and exactly 356 days later, PSV again became champions in the final round. Again Vitesse was the opponent. It went badly under then interim coach Sef Vergoossen. From match 27 to match 33, PSV scored only ten points in seven matches. Competitor Ajax had just run out of steam and PSV had failed a week earlier to become champions at home against FC Twente.
Golden switch
The team shivered and was stiff with tension in the game against Vitesse, which this year was not played in Eindhoven, but in Arnhem. With Danny Koevermans in the point of attack, PSV created little. Vergoossen intervened midway through and brought on Lazović for De Koef. A godsend for the Serbian to crown himself the hero of Eindhoven against his old club of all places. Barely a minute into the second half, Ibrahim Afellay sent a measured deep pass to Jefferson Farfán. With a pinpoint cross, the Peruvian served Lazović, who slid the ball in a controlled manner through the legs of goalkeeper Piet Velthuizen: 0-1.
Discharge
akweg three quarters of an hour later, the score still 0-1. By now the camera crews had set their sights on Lazović for several minutes. The tension was dripping off his face. Referee Eric Braamhaar whistled for the last time. The Serbian striker went to the ground kneeling and the discharge was grandiose. Danko Lazović had shot PSV to the 21st national title in club history in his first season in Eindhoven. It became his moment. His day. For a moment he was the big hero of soccer-loving Eindhoven.