Cocu refuses to accept that PSV's final hopes are crushed

PSV Eindhoven believe they can still knock Milan out of the Champions' League despite Tuesday's 2-0 first-leg defeat. Following Jon Dahl Tomasson's last-minute goal, PSV must now brace themselves for what many believe will be an impossible task against the six-time European champions in next week's semi-final second leg.

PSV Eindhoven believe they can still knock Milan out of the Champions' League despite Tuesday's 2-0 first-leg defeat. Following Jon Dahl Tomasson's last-minute goal, PSV must now brace themselves for what many believe will be an impossible task against the six-time European champions in next week's semi-final second leg.

Few could have predicted that Guus Hiddink's team would reach the last four, with PSV having one of the lowest budgets in comparison to the other teams who qualified for the last 16. But if there is anything the Eredivisie champions have shown so far, it is that they lack no character. "It's not over yet," the PSV midfielder Phillip Cocu said. "It will be extremely difficult but in football anything can happen and there are still 90 minutes left to play."

Although Milan controlled the opening half, the visitors proved their quality in the last 45 minutes of the game at the San Siro. "A 2-0 result would suggest a convincing victory by Milan," Cocu said. "But those who have watched the game will know that a 1-1 draw would have been a fair result.Throughout the game we had eight or nine chances but we failed to score and when you miss, you pay the price."

The midfielder Mark van Bommel disagreed with Hiddink, who said that the difference on the night was that Milan's attacking line was a class above his strikers. "I don't believe that is the case," the Dutch international said. "If you look at the chances we had, many of them have fallen to midfielders not to our strikers."