Merciless Club Brugge also attacks Racing Genk

KRC Genk

Club Brugge

23′ – Yellow – Carlos Cuesta
38′ – Goal – Kyriani Sabbe (0 – 1)

61′ – Yellow – Hugo Vetlesen
62′ – Cont. Michal Skóras by Denis Odoi
64′ – Cont. Toluwalase Emmanuel Arokodare by Andi Zeqiri
67′ – Goal – Hugo Vetlesen (0 – 2)
71′ – Goal – Igor Thiago (0 – 3)
75′ – Cont. Anouar Ait El Hajj by Christopher Baah
75′ – Cont. Zakaria El Ouahdi by Alieu Fadera
76′ – Cont. Patrik Hrošovský by Ibrahima Sory Bangoura
79′ – Cont. Kyriani Sabbe by Maxim De Cuyper
79′ – Cont. Hugo Vetlesen by Casper Nielsen
85′ – Cont. Raphael Onyedika by Philip Zinckernagel
88′ – Cont. Bilal El Khannous by Noah Adedeji-Sternberg
90′ – Yellow – Casper Nielsen

Jupiler Pro League – matchday 6 – 28/04/24 – 13:31

time	player	score	awayPlayer	awayTime
38′	Kyriani Sabbe	0 – 1	Kyriani Sabbe	38′
67′	Hugo Vetlesen	0 – 2	Hugo Vetlesen	67′
71′	Igor Thiago	0 – 3	Igor Thiago	71′

Club Brugge continues to race through the play-offs. After Wednesday’s big win, Racing Genk now beat Racing Genk again with a convincing 0-3. Sabbe opened the score just before half time with a lucky goal, in the last half hour Vetlesen and Thiago killed the match. 16 (!) out of 18 for blue-black, which is currently in the lead.

Racing Genk – Club Brugge in a nutshell:

Key moment: Club Brugge decided the match in the second half with two goals in four minutes. With a clever move, Sabbe offers Vetlesen the 0-2 and not much later Thiago Racing finally counts Genk out.
Man of the match: His first goal for Club Brugge was one with a good dose of luck, but Kyriani Sabbe played a very strong match in Genk. The best illustration of this was his particularly clever assist with the 0-2.
Remarkable: With a fifth win in six games, Club Brugge continues its unbeaten run in the Champions’ Play-offs. Moreover, they continue to score a lot with no less than 16 goals or almost 3 per match.
Statistics: An impressive series comes to an end for Racing Genk. The Limburg club was undefeated for more than 21 matches at home in Play-off I, but the 22nd home match was too much.

McKenzie’s mistake destroys dominant Genk

Four days after the 4-0 defeat in the Jan Breydel Stadium, KRC Genk had to put something right for its own people against Club Brugge. That reaction also came, Genk returned to its familiar level in the first half and pushed Club onto the defensive.

Yet the first threat came from Club Brugge, Nusa missed an excellent header opportunity after just five minutes. With El Ouahdi’s shot going wide, Genk’s response did not take long and the home team kept control afterwards. However, this superiority did not result in much goal danger.

Club mainly had to defend, but out of nowhere they took the lead shortly before half time. McKenzie simply had to head the ball away on a harmless cross from Sabbe, but strangely enough he didn’t. Vandevoordt was completely surprised and saw the ball blow into the goal.

After Vetlesen’s strange goal against Union, another stroke of luck for Club, which was suddenly the virtual leader in the Champions’ Play-offs.

Sabbe’s cross surprisingly goes past Vandevoordt: 0-1.

Vetlesen and Thiago finally count Genk out

Genk had to work in the second half and came close to the equalizer after a few minutes. After a short corner kick, El Khannouss aimed for the short corner, but Jackers made an excellent save.

Afterwards, Genk found no room in Club’s strong organization and suffered another blow halfway through the second half. Sabbe delivered a brilliant acceleration on the right, put Mckenzie into the wind and gave Vetlesen the 0-2.

Barely four minutes later, Genk was finally allowed to score. Kayembe simply let Vetlesen run on a deep ball from Onyedika. The Norwegian found Thiago in front of goal and he easily scored his second in as many games from close range.

Genk was on the ropes and can definitively put away their title ambitions. Club Brugge is more than ever the title candidate.

Vetlesen celebrates the 0-2, assist came from Sabbe.

Thiago scored another goal and put the 0-3 on the scoreboard.

Vandevoordt: “There was a miscommunication”

For Racing Genk, the misery started with a particularly unfortunate goal. After a misunderstanding between McKenzie and Vandevoordt, a harmless cross from Sabbe simply went into the goal.

“That cross came and I shouted ‘away’, headed the ball away. Then there may have been a miscommunication, which caused McKenzie to bend over and the ball was in the goal very quickly,” is what goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt explains. “I need to talk to him about it again.”

“Today it was mainly about efficiency. Club had four chances and they made three. We were well in the match and set up good attacks, so such a result is a bit exaggerated.”

Genk seemed to be the surprise of the Champions’ Play-offs, but can now put its title dreams on hold. “We must now mainly try to bring in European football and show a response for ourselves and the supporters.”

Reactions from the Genk camp:

Wouter Vrancken (trainer Racing Genk): “We played well until the second goal. I had nothing to criticize about the field play, the players showed a reaction after last Wednesday. With that dominance we should have created a little more. We did have the chances to score and then that efficiency must be there. One mistake will put you behind. We shouldn’t point the finger there, because ultimately we also have to do better with that second goal and with the third goal it seemed offside to me made a big difference. It is a shame that our good fielding against a strong team was not rewarded. We now have to keep the good mindset after two disappointments.”
Zakaria El Ouahdi (Racing Genk): “We started the match very well. The first half was 100 percent ours, but after that goal the lights went out. In the second half we were a little less. We have to do our best in every match and get that European ticket. These are two heavy defeats, but that can happen.”

End

After the 4-0 home win last Wednesday, Club Brugge also made a big impact when it visited Genk. Thanks to a 0-3 win, Blue-Black takes the lead for the time being, but Genk can put its title ambitions aside again. Club took the lead in the first half with a good dose of luck and finally counted out Genk after half-time. Vetlesen and Thiago decided the match with two goals in four minutes.

6 – extra time

An extra 6 minutes will be added.

Yellow for Nielsen

Nielsen can’t keep up with McKenzie and takes him down. The result is yellow for the Dane.

Club Brugge is sitting in an armchair and, as the new leader, will soon be able to quietly watch what its competitors are doing. Anderlecht will start in about 45 minutes when they visit Cercle Brugge, Union and Antwerp will look each other in the eye again tonight.

Zeqiri on the post

Suddenly another great opportunity for Genk. Zeqiri is able to make a decision from close range on Kayembe’s cross, but his header hits the post.

Valid goal

The VAR clearly has a job to do with it. It takes a very long time to wait for the verdict, but the goal is ultimately approved. At Genk they have now brought three fresh players onto the field with Baah, Fadera and Bangoura, but the battle seems to be over.