PSV, dressed in a special kit made in collaboration with local theme park Efteling, headed into round 27 of the Dutch Eredivisie knowing the title could be theirs by Sunday afternoon - with a win over NEC on Saturday, PSV only need Feyenoord to lose at home to Excelsior on Sunday to claim the 27th league title in club history.
However, it was never going to be an easy task against fourth-placed NEC, who knocked the reigning Eredivisie champions out of the KNVB Beker in last week's semifinal in a 3-2 thriller.
NEC were quick to ruin PSV's potential title party - following a ping-pong exchange in midfield, PSV defender Yarek Gasiorowski was caught out of position by Sami Ouaissa, who put Bryan Linssen one-on-one with Matej Kovar with a simple pass and saw the 35-year-old striker calmly put it past the Czech stopper in the 20th minute.
A slow PSV was easily tamed by NEC, who created the bulk of the chances and only had Ricardo Pepi register an attempt on goal against them.
The Nijmegen outfit doubled their lead with seven minutes to go in the first half when Gasiorowski was caught with space behind him again, which was ruthlessly punished by Linssen, who easily finished his second big chance of the evening and shocked the home crowd.
PSV swiftly replied from a corner, which was headed back into the mixer by Ryan Flamingo and finished by Kiliann Sildillia, who profited from a tumble from goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen and got PSV back within one.
PSV only grew more lacklustre in the second half and merely managed to create a handful of minor chances with an extra strike, Myron Boadu, on the pitch.
The hosts were stunned once more when Youssef El Kachati restored NEC's two-goal lead in the 67th minute - a quick counter got Linssen in position to fire in a third, but a block saw the ball land in front of El Kachati, who beat Kovar at his near post for the 3-1.
PSV were lucky not to concede a quick fourth after Linssen fired a shot just wide of Kovar's goal and saw Kovar narrowly save an effort from close range, all within five minutes of El Kachati finding the net.
NEC kept PSV from jeopardising the Nijmegen lead until the third minute of added time, when Couhaib Driouech fired in the 3-2 for PSV and earned the champions-to-be a lifeline for the closing stages of the five minutes of added time.
A final free-kick didn't bring the miracle PSV hoped for, as NEC claimed their first-ever Eredivisie win over PSV in Eindhoven following another 3-2 thriller. NEC level Feyenoord's total of 49 points ahead of the Rotterdam side's meeting with Excelsior on Sunday.
PSV's next chance to win the title will be next week, when the Eindhoven giants head to Velsen-Zuid to face Telstar.
Check out the full match statistics on Flashscore
