St. Liege vs Club Brugge KV PREVIEW & PREDICTION 16/05/2019

Club Brugge will go to Sclessin on Thursday evening to give Standard Luik a game. In an immensely exciting title battle it is point for Club Brugge to grab the three points and nothing less. For Standard, the third place is still there, but with the last few weeks in mind, there is little positivism to radiate at the Rouches. Can they pick up for their own audience or will Club Brugge win again?

Standard Liege:

For the first time in years, Standard achieved “simple” play-off I. But where it settled in other years as a play-off team, it is now different. After eight games it only managed to win three times and lost five times. This puts it in fourth place at three points from Antwerp and five points for Anderlecht. It could just be that fourth place does not give the right to European football and so it has to go all out to get hold of that third place. Last week was not a good example of that, when Ghent came to visit.

With a disastrous 1/21 for Ghent and a very poor 8/21 for Standard, both teams had a lot to set straight. And especially the visitors seemed to have understood that. Jaremchuk already had three chances in a few minutes, but did not finish. Moments later it was a prize for Ghent. Souquet dribbled himself nicely in the sixteen, Dejaegere only had to tap inside. Standard fought back and found what it was looking for. Derijck had to leave the field injured, Plastoen was his replacement. But he was still tied up when Bastien headed the equalizer past Kaminski. Gent, who also injured Dejaegere for the break, was affected by the 1-1, Standard tried to go over and over it, without success. 1-1 was also the resting position. And even after the break it was the visitors who came out the best in the changing rooms. Standard got away well when Laifis seemed to touch the ball by hand in the sixteen. The VAR did not intervene, the Cypriot held his hand against the body, although we can at least call the action doubtful. But Ghent was nevertheless rewarded for its good intentions. Substitute David had Standard goalkeeper Ochoa turn over for a second time: 1-2. Standard was no longer able to make a real fist, but it was on the same level. Lestienne, who had been on the field for just a minute, punished Gents in the back with a 2-2 and seemed to drag a Liege point out of the fire. But in minute 94, the home team still got an icy downpour over Sclessin. David crowned himself as the match winner with a goal in the ultimate slot. Ghent, deservedly, grabs its first win in Play-off I. Standard stays on the track and misses the opportunity to jump over Antwerp to the third place.

Michel Preud’Homme also saw that Standard misses a lot of players is perhaps too much of a good thing to offer a solid and good team: “I think the mentality was right, the players fought for it. But if you get such a goal, it is dramatic. We are far too lax. There are already a lot of injured people and maybe Bokadi and Goreux can add some more. We have to keep looking for solutions, find a system to let the players But tonight we tried, unfortunately we were not rewarded, not even with a dot. ”

Club Brugge:

In the regular league, Club has been racing Racing Genk for a whole season and it finally started to run in until the play-offs arrived. But here too it started less well, rather than because Genk proceeded flawlessly. But after eight games, Club managed to collect nineteen points and Genk eighteen, which means it got one point closer. The difference now amounts to three points and with a tie, Club is above Genk by means of the scoring and half the extra point for Genk. Last week the duel waited between the two title favorites.

At Club, everything and everyone was mobilized to put the last trump card in the title fight on the table. It created an impressive atmosphere in a swirling Jan Breydel stadium, but Genk was not impressed. On the contrary, after just four minutes the league leader already took the lead. Dewaest was out of sight with a free kick by Trossard and the defender tucked the 0-1 into the cross in one time. Dream start for Genk. Club reacted immediately, but Diatta did not get the ball past Vukovic. Genk had to go back and forgot to play football himself. Nevertheless, the chances for Club were limited. Vanaken was not in his element and that was evident in the home team. Apart from a solid Diatta cone, there was little to note. Genk started best in the second half, but it was Club that scored. The seventh corner was the good one for the home team. Vanaken won the game against Dewaest and scored the equalizer. Club smelled blood and pushed Genk back. For the competition leader it was just pumping or drowning. Malinovskiy came under pressure after a mistake by Dennis, but Horvath kept Club afloat with a good save. At the hour Leko Openda dropped into the team and that turned out to be a golden substitute. The substitute was barely on the pitch when he gave Club the lead on the instructions of Diatta. Three minutes later, Diatta went for his own glory. With a great shot, he made it 3-1. Vanaken could not even make it 4-1 from the penalty spot much later, but he aimed at the crossbar. It almost turned out to be an expensive mistake, as substitute Gano reduced Genk to 3-2 in the final phase. In the extra time it even became egg after 3-3, a header from Samatta stranded on the post.

Club continues to fight until the end and that is very clever. The mentality is excellent, coach Ivan Leko also saw: “I am very satisfied. From the first minute we were the better team. Genk came once in our 16s and it was right. We missed some finesse in the final phase. If Hans who converts the penalty, it will be a different ending, but fighting until the last minute may make the victory even better Physically, we were stronger, we got more hands on the ball and we had more chances, I still believe in the title. This week was fantastic with victories for Liverpool and Tottenham, where there was already champagne in Genk at the break, but it still became 3-2 for us. on May 19 we will see who is the best in Belgium. ”


PREDICTION: Club Brugge KV to win @ 1,92

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