Youngster Xavi Simons earns Champions League qualification and Golden Boot with last minute wonder goal
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Young PSV star Xavi Simons booked his side's place in next season's Champions League and earned himself the Eredivisie Golden Boot with a brilliant goal deep in injury time.
It had been a pretty good season for PSV with Ruud van Nistelrooy leading his team to two cup triumphs in his debut campaign in charge of the senior team.
With just days to go before the final game of the league season the former striker quit his job, with the team hoping to secure second place.
It was a huge blow for the team as they prepared to take on fourth placed AZ Alkmaar and knew a positive result would guarantee them a place in the Champions League.
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Van Nistelrooy had not been happy with the sales of Cody Gakpo and Noni Madueke earlier in the season but he did thank the team on his departure.
However the loss of those two forwards had left the team Thorgan Hazard, Fabio Silva and 20-year-old Simons as their main threats in attack.
The former Barcelona and PSG player moved to the Netherlands at the start of the season and he has proved all year that he was right to leave France.
On Sunday Simons opened the scoring to go level at the top of Eredivisie's top scorer chart only for Jesper Karlsson to equalise for Alkmaar in the 84th minute from the penalty spot.
With the game having already entered injury time PSV had Anwar El Ghazi sent off, further denting their chances at finishing in the top two.
That's when Simons came up with the goods, bursting past three defenders, rounding the goalkeeper and smashing the ball into the net through another defender in the 98th minute to secure personal and team success.
Xavi Simons secures dutch golden boot and UCL qualification with this solo goal in the last second of the game pic.twitter.com/r9EJNdyWKa
— Chuck Bass (@LeeFussballV2) May 28, 2023
"Wow in the dying minute too.. away from home and you’ve gone and done that. No one would be able to chat to him for a year," said one fan.
"Gonna tell my kids about this rookie season," claimed a second.
Questioning what his two previously clubs had done, a third added, "How did both Barcelona and PSG let this guy go, he looks like he’s gonna be superstar in the future."
"Wow he is him," exclaimed a fourth.
On the timing of the goal another supporter replied, "Doing that in the 97th minute of a game is CRAZY to say the least."
"Ridiculous talent," commented another.
And many fans were calling for their own teams to make some sort of move for the midfielder, who has a buy back clause at PSG.
As it happened Simons didn't need to score to book PSV's place amongst Europe's elite as Ajax ended up finishing off their poor campaign with a loss to FC Twente, for himself though he ended up with 19 goals and eight assists in the league.
Featured Image Credit: Twitter
Topics: Eredivisie, Netherlands, PSV, Xavi Simons, Fan Reactions
