Mark van Bommel makes a strong argument about the Antwerp season: “I have received a lot of messages from other trainers”

No cup and therefore no (main) prize for Antwerp. That’s a sobering feeling after the double of a year earlier. But does that make it a failed season? Mark van Bommel strongly contradicted this afterwards: “We are Antwerp, not Chelsea or Real Madrid.”

Anticlimax for Antwerp, the cup final against Union.

At no point did the Great Old sparkle, but that did not diminish the disappointment of trainer Mark van Bommel.

“Because we know how good it feels to win, it is extra sad to lose here,” he said afterwards.

“We are now experiencing what Union experienced last year in the competition. Today we are the ones who suffer. The decision came at a standstill, but otherwise Union did little with the ball. This defeat is therefore all the more painful.”

At the press conference, the Dutch coach, who has not yet announced his retirement from Antwerp, was asked as a final question how he will end the season.

A long argument would follow.

“I’m glad this question came up,” Van Bommel grinned. “We have to be realistic: we are Antwerp. We know where we come from. Last year we won everything – the cup final and the title.”

“This season we won the super cup and qualified for the Champions League. (gently) They had never heard that tune at the Bosuil. And it will be difficult to achieve that again in the short term. (regroups) Maybe at all even.”

“Then you try to qualify for Play-off I during the season – an important goal. And you reach the cup final. In the meantime, a lot of things happen in the meantime. So you cannot possibly say that it is a bad season for us. Only if you would look at in the short term.”

Many teams would love to be in our shoes today.

Mark van Bommel

Van Bommel’s reasoning continued afterwards: “We are not playing that bad, but the results are just not good. You know, I received a lot of messages from other trainers who would have really liked to be in this cup final. That you not winning is always possible. Many teams would like to be in our shoes today.”

“We won a prize with the super cup, played the Champions League. Then there are a lot of teams that had a bad year. Suppose we end with three prizes… If we go back to my first press conference – I don’t know which of you were there. Who would have thought that? We are Antwerp, right? Not Real Madrid or Chelsea.”