AA Gent has everything in hand in the Conference League Play-offs. The Buffalos have to play next weekend against first pursuer KV Mechelen. Hein Vanhaezebrouck puts his group on edge.
On the previous match day, Ghent recorded a difficult home win against KVC Westerlo (3-2). Vanhaezebrouck saw his team suffer in the opening phase. “We didn’t really get off to a great start last week, perhaps partly due to focus. Even though we had emphasized that enough, but also because Westerlo started great with a lot of quality,” he said at his Friday press chat.
Things have to be better against KV Mechelen
KV Mechelen has seen the gap with Ghent increase since the start of the play-offs. “They started these play-offs to win them because they were the best team of 2024 and they also made a lot of publicity about that. Then you expect a very difficult Play-Off 2, but we achieved a nice 15 out of 18, so we increased the gap on Mechelen to six points.”
Yet the Ghent coach is on his guard. “At home against Mechelen it was important to win and we deserved to do so. Now we go to Mechelen in a more comfortable position, but if we bring the same quality in Mechelen as against Westerlo, then that does not bode well. Hopefully everyone is aware of the level of the match and we are ready for it.”
Outstanding De Sart
Vanhaezebrouck will again be able to count on Julien De Sart, one of the standouts this season at Ghent. “I must say that Julien has grown in his role. At times – when Sven was not there – he had a hard time keeping not only things afloat but also himself.”
“He has also grown in that. He has balanced that and evolved so that he was able to regain his level even without Sven and in recent weeks he has even been the support of the team.” Can De Sart Gent also pull through against KVM, as he did against Westerlo?
