Guus Hiddink was left ruing what might have been following PSV’s defeat to Milan in last night’s Champions League semi-final second leg in Eindhoven.
Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, the Dutch champions levelled the tie midway through the second half through goals from Park and Cocu. However, with extra-time looming, Milan’s Massimo Ambrosini’s secured the victory that took Milan through to the final. Despite a second strike from Cocu to level the aggregate score at 3-3, Milan went through to meet Liverpool on the away-goals rule.
“We were very, very close until the last minute and then we threw it all away,” said the PSV coach.
“We’ve played some excellent football against one of the best sides in the world and provided a good advertisement for Dutch football. Unfortunately we had to make some changes to the team during the second half and we lost a little control with it.
“Milan showed us a lot of respect and we’ve demonstrated that we can achieve on the big stage and that’s thanks to the ambition of the players.
“They earned some good experience out there and learned some of the basic laws of football. I’m only disappointed about the manner in which our Champions League run was ended.
PSV midfielder Mark van Bommel could not hide his disappointment.
“We were a bit unlucky today,” said van Bommel. ”It was very disappointing.
“When you play two games better than AC Milan you deserve to win but they scored the away goal, which is the most important thing.
“We were the best team. It was a sucker punch.”
