Care for some champions' reactions? Here they are!
Ivan Leko: "So so proud of everyone!"
A draw against KV Mechelen finally sufficed for Club to claim its twentieth national title. Needless to say, the tem had an extremely satisfied and proud coach in Ivan Leko afterwards. The "Ivan Leko, Bruges Army!" chants resounded through the stadium at several times.
"This is just incredible and I am over the moon," Club's T1 responded after the title win. "The support we received from the supporters week after week was fantastic and this while we had to constantly chase in the past months. Also today it was a difficult match, but I am really happy for them and for everyone who loves our colours. It's a big day today after a very stressful match.
With so many chances, we really should have had a 0-3 lead. When we then swallow that equalizer by the end, you think, 'Why does this have to happen to us now?' We then had to wait another good five minutes for the match in Gent to conclude. In the end, I think the best team in Belgium just very much deserved this. We have the best attack and best defense.
In football, ideally, the best football should prevail. This is good for football: that the team that dares to take risks and plays to score one more goal ends up being champions. I am satisfied for everyone who has been a part of this.
It was a difficult but bold decision to change managers mid season. It wasn't easy for me at the time either, but when you work 24/7 and still get to celebrate.... that brings a lot of pleasure. I also want to thank everyone for this and now we get to enjoy above all that we made it as champions one game before the end of the Champions' Playoffs. This is a great result for us!"
The managerial change sparked a lot of upset, but in the end it worked out well. "This is probably my best five to six months ever, because we won so many games. When you have an average of 2.40 to 2.45 goals per game, you always have three goals: first, you have to get results, second, I'm very romantic when it comes to football and I like to play top football and third, I want to make my players better.
If you look at the results, you have to note that these are incredible results. It has been a long time since anyone could present this. Our football has been the best football in Belgium in the past few months, whatever people may say. Finally, my players have made tremendous progress and I am very proud of that.
I am also proud of the staff, myself, the players, but also the supporters who always believed this was possible. This is a fact that gives extra confidence, but also comes with extra responsibility. This is not a copy-paste from several years back, but something new. We tried to anticipate and do the best possible with the selection we have.
I was really enjoying the past six months with my guys. We brought the style of football that I think everyone who is a fan of this club wants to see. We also win a lot in the process, like for example in the Playoffs, where we won a lot of matches and scored a lot of goals. So I am enormously proud of everyone!", a proud Ivan Leko concluded.
Christos Tzolis: "Don't know if this trophy is going to survive"
Another Man Of The Match trophy for Christos Tzolis, proving once again instrumental in Club's results with a goal and an assist. "I love winning trophies. The most important one today however is the trophy of national champions and our second star. Today I'm not worried about the MOTM trophy for a while."
The conclusion of his own match and that of Union came with a lot of stress. "It's unbelievable. I don't know how we conceded that second goal. I then thought it was 0-1 at Gent - Union, but then I suddenly heard that it was 0-0 after all. As a result, for a moment we were supporters of AA Gent today. That's a bit weird to say, but they did help us."
The visitors really should have killed the match off against KV Mechelen, but it didn't happen. "It was 1-2 and we definitely had the chances to put it beyond doubt, but we don't do that and you know what can happen. They score out of nothing and then it gets tense. Fortunately, we can forget about that hellish ending altogether now, because we are champions."
Christos the Savior ended his talk with some prophetic words, "Thanks for the Man Of The Match trophy. I don't know if that one is going to survive until I get home, because I anticipate we are going to celebrate hard tonight."
Nicolò Tresoldi: "Better with two stars on the shirt"
Goal scorer Tresoldi found it hard to put into words just what was going through him. "It's incredible to celebrate this with these fantastic fans; I'm just so very happy. At the end, I could barely watch the match in Gent. We really just needed to have finished it ourselves with a win, but even this is okay in the end. It's better and nicer with two stars on the jersey anyway. It was our goal for the season and we achieved it. Time to enjoy this!"
Hans Vanaken: "Time for a big celebration"
Hans Vanaken was one of the few players not watching the small screen of rights holder DAZN: "There's nothing you can do about it at that moment anyway and it was still a five-minute wait, so I shook hands with the players of Mechelen who played a wonderful season. It took some time for that final whistle and then a great relief followed. About king of assists Tzolis, the captain was clear: "With his incredible statistics and the way he has played the last two years, he is simply the best player in the league. What will the evening bring? A big party with all the trimmings, with the whole team and our wives there."
Joaquin Seys: "This one is for the fans"
Seys' emotion was great after winning the title. "Anger, joy, sadness. All the emotions of the entire season just came out. Everything I had been bottling up suddenly came out." Seys could not watch the final game between Gent and Union. "Not knowing was awful. Then when I heard it was over at Union so much fell off of me."
He was also asked if he wanted to address the fans at home, and he had no hesitation in doing so. "This one is for you guys. The second star is ours now. Come Sunday we will enjoy it together in Bruges."
Aleksandar Stanković: "I can't describe my emotions at the moment"
"Unspeakable, the emotions are incredible. Almost brothers with Tresoldi, we are going to enjoy a night of celebration. Tresoldi is an incredible player, he is going to have a great career."
Simon Mignolet: "I'm very happy we became champions today"
Mignolet was only too eager to bring in another second star during his time at Club Brugge, and he succeeded. "I have no words for it. It was a crazy ending, but it doesn't matter because we are champions."
Of course, the championship was not won just in this one match, it is a longterm masterpiece and Mignolet knows that better than anyone. "I think we always digested the games very well. Especially the loss in Union we handled well, because that came as a tremendous blow. We always continued to play attacking football and therefore deservedly became champions. I am very happy we became champions today."
Brandon Mechele: "Seven titles is nice, but there could be more"
"Blood-curdling minutes sitting in front of that small screen, we hadn't experienced anything like it. We have experienced many different titles in different ways, but this was still unseen. During the match we did hear that the result on the other pitch was favorable, but of course the countdown continued. It would also have been nicer to finish it off with a win ourselves, but champions will be champions and based on the playoffs, it's just deserved."
"Seven out of twenty titles at Club Brugge, that is indeed quite the achievement. Hans and I are very proud of it and we are not done yet. Seven is nice, but there could be more. After that defeat at Union it was difficult for a while but you know that in the playoffs anything can happen, from one week to the next the momentum shifted and we kept going. We made it to this apex, the process was strenuous and hard, but we made it."