Spectacle victory in Mechelen provides certainty: KAA Gent is taking a firm step towards European football

KV Mechelen and KAA Gent played an interesting match against each other on Saturday evening. Beforehand, the gap between the two teams was six points and with a victory in Mechelen, the Buffaloes could have won the final victory in the Europe Play-off.

With a Mechelen victory, the Ghent team would have to pay attention three more times. And so both teams knew what had to be done. At Mechelen, Besnik Hasi already held on to the eleven that won against OH Leuven.

Spectacular first half with five goals

Coucke and Cobbaut were still spared – Hasi did not want to take any risks with them. And there are also few reasons for Hein Vanhaezebrouck to make adjustments in Ghent. He had to bring De Sart onto the field to replace the sick Sven Kums.

After an academic fifteen minutes of exploring, the game quickly went into overdrive. First there was the clever 1-0 with a hard shot from Hairemans in the top corner, a little later Fernandez-Pardo was able to score very easily after a good put back from Tissoudali.

In a spectacular first half we eventually scored five goals. Islam Slimani – who had replaced Bassette who had been injured after fifteen minutes – headed in the 2-1, and five minutes before half-time Mitrovic leveled the scores again.

Ghent is taking a big step towards European football

Mechelen’s supporters asked for a foul on goalkeeper Thoelen, but neither Boterberg nor the VAR responded to that request. In the end it seemed to be a Malinois who collided with the unfortunate goalkeeper.

Just before half time, Tarik ‘Tita Tovenaar’ Tissoudali managed to curl the ball around Thoelen again, so we went to half time at 2-3. In a much less spectacular second half, it was time for substitute Hjulsager to make the decision five minutes before the end.

Mechelen played a brave match and a brave season, but came up a little short in the final score. Ghent continues its strong run and is already certain of a jump-off for European football with three matches to go.