Club Brugge won the topper against AA Gent 2-1. Blauw-Zwart was clearly in control and took the lead after twenty minutes thanks to Romeo Vermant. Gent equalized shortly after the break, but in the closing stages Nicolò Tresoldi gave Club the victory.
Ivan Leko was forced to make two changes to his starting lineup against his former team. Onyedika left for the Africa Cup and was replaced by Hugo Vetlesen. In addition, Christos Tzolis had to drop out due to illness. His place at left forward was taken by Mamadou Diakhon. In addition, Kyriani Sabbe was preferred to Hugo Siquet at right back. Joaquin Seys had been out injured against Dender last week, but still managed to get fit in time.
The Bruges players started the game most eagerly, but the first opportunities were not well played: Diakhon was launched but choked on his control and when Sabbe was given some space for a moment, he played in too hard to Vermant. After just over ten minutes Club got a free kick in an interesting spot, but Vanaken's effort flew straight at the Gent wall. Moments later, Sabbe's cross whirled just wide. The first real chance followed after twenty minutes and immediately resulted in a goal: Diakhon put Samoise in the wind on the left and his low cross was subtly tapped in by Romeo Vermant.
A few minutes later it was egg so after 2-0. Forbs dived into the back of the Ghent defense, but tapped the ball a little too far in front, allowing Roef to make another save. The Buffaloes initially limited themselves to defending, but had to crawl out of their hedgehog position due to this deficit. A shot by Ito went wide and a shot by Dean - albeit after prior offside by Goore - was pushed over goal by Van den Heuvel. The last danger of the first half came from Blauw-Zwart: Vermant just couldn't reach a Vetlesen slider and a Stanković cross was cleared in extremis.
At the start of the second half, Diakhon cut inside well, but the young Frenchman just couldn't print. On the other side, Dean immediately tested Van den Heuvel's fists. The Bruggelings went in search of the 2-0, but it was Gent that scored out of nowhere: after a corner kick, Maksim Paskotši headed in the equalizer. A big disappointment for Club, which was dominating on many levels.
After the equalizer, Blauw-Zwart constantly camped in the AA Gent half. After a fine attack, an excellent chance followed, but after a cross from Seys, a deviation by Vanaken via a defender went just wide. A low cross from Sabbe was also just cleared. Moments later, Vergoote allowed the ball to go through after Diakhon was brought down in the penalty area, and shortly afterwards the same Diakhon put the ball over the crossbar.
Twenty minutes before time, Leko threw in two fresh attackers with Furo and Tresoldi. Club kept pushing the Buffaloes away: an effort by Vanaken went just wide and Roef saved a header by Furo. Five minutes before time it worked: after a cross from Meijer, Tresoldi kicked the ball in. In injury time Roef was able to stop Forbs and a shot by Vetlesen went just wide. It remained 2-1 and so Blauw-Zwart took a satisfying win. The gap on leader Union remains three points.
Jupiler Pro League - Matchday 19
Spectators: 28,000 - Jan Breydelstadion
Referee: Jasper Vergoote
Club Brugge: Dani van den Heuvel - Kyriani Sabbe (78' Hugo Siquet), Joel Ordóñez, Brandon Mechele (38' Jorne Spileers), Joaquin Seys (78' Bjorn Meijer) - Aleksandar Stanković, Hugo Vetlesen, Hans Vanaken - Carlos Forbs, Romeo Vermant (69' Nicolò Tresoldi), Mamadou Diakhon (69' Kaye Furo). Bench: Axl De Corte, Cisse Sandra, Gustaf Nilsson and Vince Osuji. Coach: Ivan Leko.
KAA Gent: Davy Roef - Matties Volckaert, Maksim Paskotsi, Siebe Van der Heyden - Matisse Samoise (72' Jean-Kévin Duverne), Tibe De Vlieger, Atsuki Ito, Omri Gandelman, Araujo Tiago (78' Franck Surdez) - Max Dean (63' Lopes Da Silva), Hyllarion Goore (78' Dante Vanzeir). Coach: Rik De Mil.
Yellow cards: Tiago, Surdez.
Red cards: none
Goals: 21' Vermant (1-0), 52' Paskotši (1-1), 86' Tresoldi (2-1).