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Club - Fiorentina: Club Facts

UEFA Conference League

Can you feel it? Tomorrow the stage will be set for the Conference League semi-final second leg against Fiorentina. Jan Breydel is already gearing up for a grand evening. And what better way than to read the Club Facts to get those pre-game jitters!

The fixture

The first leg already six days behind us, Jan Breydel will be the venue to make up for that 3-2 defeat on Italian turf. The game will be the 60th encounter of the season for Blue & Black. With the Holy Blood Procession scheduled in Bruges on Thursday, the game has been scheduled one day earlier. In order to steer clear from the Champions League Semi-final match on Wednesday, this game will be kicked off at 18h45.

All is still to play for, courtesy of Vanaken's spot kick and Thiago's witty shot trickling past the Fiorentina goalkeeper. The game is completely sold out and we call on all fans to paint our grounds in Blue and Black early before kick-off!

Facing an Italian team at home has not always been successful for Club. In the past ten meetings at Jan Breydel with Italian opposition, Club won three, drew two and lost out in five. The last victory dates back 45 years ago.

Playing a two-leg game with direct elimination has happened thirty times before in Club's rich history. On 15 occasions, Club managed to seal the deal, and just as many times Club was eliminated. 17 times Club lost the first leg game with a mere 1 goal difference and in 10 out of those 17 (59%) Club managed to soldier on to the next round.

Come Wednesday, Club fans will be "celebrating" May 8 for different reasons. It has been 16 years since legendary striker François Sterchele passed away on the day. The Liège striker used to celebrate his goals honouring his idol Luca Toni, featuring at Fiorentina for 3 seasons (2005-2007 and 2012-2013). Ever since, Club fans applaud their hero in the 23rd minute; no doubt those claps will resound even louder on Wednesday.

Making up that 3-2 would mean a third European final for Club Brugge KV. In the two earlier finals, Liverpool was the opponent: in 1976 (UEFA Cup) and in 1978 (European Cup I).

With 29 goals, Igor Thiago tops the goal scoring table for Club, while Andreas Skov Olsen netted his 24th goal of the season at Antwerp. It has been since the 2001-02 season that Club Brugge had two players scoring 20 or more goals in one season (Rune Lange (27) and Andrés Mendoza (22)). With seven goals each, the two players are also Club's top scorers on the European scene.

No Raphael Onyedika at Club; the Nigerian conceded a red card in Florence, seeing him ruled out for the return. Bjorn Meijer fell out injured at Antwerp on Sunday, his season is over.

<p>Skov Olsen proved crucial with a clever goal in his come-back on Sunday against Antwerp. </p>

Skov Olsen proved crucial with a clever goal in his come-back on Sunday against Antwerp.

The opponent

Club will be entertaining Italian ACF Fiorentina at Jan Breydel in what will be a historic European evening. The first leg win against Club helped the Italians break their club record, having remained unbeaten for twelve European duels on end. Fiorentina's last European defeat dates back to their first game of the season, when they lost out 1-0 in the UECL playoffs to SK Rapid Wien. After that, 5 away games resulted in 2 wins and 3 draws.

For Fiorentina, qualification means a 6th European final. La Viola could also be the first club to reach the Conference League final twice in a row. Last year, the Final ended in a defeat against English West Ham.

Earlier this season, the Italians already made their way to Belgium. In the Conference League group stages, Genk kept Fiorentina at 2-2. Over the weekend, Hellas Verona, number fourteen in the Serie A, beat a glorified B team 2-1. The defeat makes Fiorentina drop to ninth, so just out of the Conference League tickets for next season with just three games to go. However, La Viola still has a game in hand.

Top scorers at Fiorentina in the Conference League are Antonín Barak (Cze), Luca Ranieri (Ita), Lucas Beltrán (Arg) and M'Bala Nzola, all having scored four goals.

Milestones

  • Denis Odoi can play his 90th match for Club.
  • For Joel Ordóñez, it could be the 30th match at FCB.
  • Brandon Mechele can play his 75th European match for Club Brugge.
  • For Maxim De Cuyper and Ferran Jutglà, it could be the 20th European match for Blauw-Zwart.
  • Hans Vanaken is facing the 80th European match of his career. He played 6 European games at Sporting Lokeren and Wednesday could be his 74th at Club.
  • Both Éder Balanta and Hugo Vetlesen can add a 50th European match to their belts. In addition to 27 matches for Club, the Colombian also played 22 matches in Europe for FC Basel. Hugo Vetlesen is at 15 European matches at Club and he played another 34 at FK Bodø/Glimt.

The Man in Black

Turkish referee Mr. Halil Umut Meler will be in charge of Wednesday's match, backed by his compatriots Mr. Mustafa Emre Eyisoy and Mr. Kerem Ersoy (linesmen). Fourth official will be Bosnian Mr. Irfan Peljto. In charge of VAR will be German Mr. Marco Fritz, assisted by Mr. Alper Ulusoy (Tur). The UEFA referee observer is Spaniard Mr. Bernardino González Vázquez. The UEFA representative is Scot Mr. Iain Blair.

Mr. Meler is a 37-year-old UEFA elite referee from the western Turkish city of Izmir who has been whistling matches at an international level since 2017. He was in charge of Club's match in the UCL Round of 16 at SL Benfica (5-1) last year.