On matchday 4 of the Champions' Play-offs, Club Brugge visited the Planet Group Arena for the "Battle of Flanders" against KAA Gent. Tzolis netted twice in the opening fifteen minutes to put us in control early on, before Sabbe added a third just past the half-hour mark. Romeo Vermant then bagged a second-half brace to give Club an emphatic win. With 12 points out of 12 Club still holds on to a perfect record.
After last weekend's big win at home against league leaders KRC Genk, Club had bridged the gap to only one point. Coach Hayen wrote down the same eleven names on his tactical board, but he was forced into making one last-minute change when Nilsson picked up an injury during the warm-up. He was replaced by Vermant. The hosts made four changes with Brown, Kums, Ito and Hjulsager in the starting line-up.
With just minutes on the clock, Vermant latched onto a through ball before dragging the ball wide of Gent goalie Vandenbergh from a tight angle. A few minutes later De Cuyper's cross just evaded the centre forward. Club was clearly on the front foot and the fast start resulted in an early goal. First Tzolis was thwarted by Vandenbergh - and the flag had gone up as well - but on 9 minutes the Greek winger finished smartly with a left-footed strike to break the deadlock. A few minutes later Tzolis scored again, this time from the spot after a handball from Fadiga inside the area.
Gent responded with a half-chance through Ito after twenty minutes, but his effort was deflected wide. On that corner kick Lopes was unmarked but he couldn't get his header on target. Club took over again with a rasping drive from Jutglà, but it went over the target. Two minutes later the Catalan turned provider after a brilliant attacking move from Blauw-Zwart. Jutglà looked up on the left-hand side, picked out Sabbe at the far post and the youngster made it three with a half volley. Club almost made a fourth before the half-time whistle when Vermant's overhead kick fell into the feet of Ordóñez, but the latter was too surprised to tap home. The only sour note of the first-half was that Mignolet had to be subbed off with an injury in the closing stages of the first half.
Gent coach Milićević made one change at half-time, with Omgba coming on for Hjulsager, but it did little to shift momentum. Club once again were quickest out of the traps. Jutglà went past Samoise, who pulled the forward down, but Jutglà still managed to get the ball past Vandenbergh and saw Watanabe clear the ball on the line. The Japanese also manged to block Vermant's rebound effort. A few minutes later Jutglà got a touch on a low cross by De Cuyper, but the ball went wide.
Eventually, Blauw-Zwart scored a fourth time. First Vandenberghe parried away De Cuyper's free-kick, but Ordóñez squared the ball in front of goal for Vermant to tap home. The 21-year-old wasn't done, because halfway the second half he bagged a brace. Tzolis was played in down the left and feeded the ball to Vermant on the perfect moment, who controlled it with his right foot before smashing it home with his left.
Blauw-Zwart was hungry for more, but Vandenberghe was equal to the efforts of substitutes Talbi and Vetlesen. In the closing moments of the match Gandelman tried to pull one back, but his header was off target.
Referee Boterberg didn't want to add stoppage time and so the game ended after ninety minutes with a five-goal star performance from Club in the "Battle of Flanders". Because of Genk's earlier defeat against Union, Club now tops the Champions' Play-offs. Next Thursday we go again when we host Union, who also won all four games of the Champions' Play-offs.
Jupiler Pro League – Champions’ Play-offs: Matchday 4
Attendance: 20.185 – Planet Group Arena
Referee: Jan Boterberg
KAA Gent: Tom Vandenberghe – Matisse Samoise, Tsuyoshi Watanabe, Jordan Torunarigha, Archie Brown (57’ Tiago Araújo) – Noah Fadiga (57’ Stefan Mitrovic), Leonardo Lopes, Sven Kums (61’ Mathias Delorge), Atsuki Ito (81’ Omri Gandelman), Andrew Hjulsager (46’ Aimé Omgba) – Dante Vanzeir.
Bench: Célestin De Schrevel, Omri Gandelman, Andri Gudjohnsen, Aimé Omgba, Momodou Lamin Sonko, Stefan Mitrovic, Mathias Delorge, Franck Surdez, Tiago Araújo.
Coach: Danijel Milićević.
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet (45+1’ Nordin Jackers) – Kyriani Sabbe (61’ Hugo Siquet), Joel Ordóñez, Brandon Mechele, Maxim De Cuyper – Raphael Onyedika, Ardon Jashari (75’ Hugo Vetlesen), Hans Vanaken – Christos Tzolis, Romeo Vermant (75’ Michał Skóraś), Ferran Jutglà (61’ Chemsdine Talbi).
Bench: Nordin Jackers, Axl De Corte, Zaid Romero, Hugo Vetlesen, Gustaf Nilsson, Michał Skóraś, Casper Nielsen, Hugo Siquet, Lynnt Audoor, Chemsdine Talbi.
Coach: Nicky Hayen.
Yellow cards: Ito, Lopes, Skóraś
Red cards: none
Goals: 9’ Tzolis (0-1), 13’ Tzolis (0-2, pen), 34’ Sabbe (0-3), 52’ Vermant (0-4), 66’ Vermant (0-5)