Come tomorrow, we play the return game in the Conference League Round of Eight against PAOK FC. A spot in the Semi finals is at stake in this historic game. But what else do you need to know about the match? Find out with the Club Facts!
The fixture
Thursday marks European match number sixteen of this season, equalling the record from the 2015 European campaign, when Club stranded in the Round of Eight finals against later finalists Dnipro from Ukraine. In its history, Club has featured in Europe on 359 occasions, PAOK FC 234 times.
Six times before, Blue & Black made its way to Greece, with varying degrees of success. Three times Club came out on top, and just as many times FCB drew the short end. That includes a trip to Thessaloniki. In 2010, the away game against PAOK FC ended 1-1.
If we dig a little deeper into our European past, we see that Club won the first leg in a European knockout phase with 1-0 eleven times before, resulting in qualification for the next round six times. The same goes for this encounter: early on in the match Jutglà served Vetlesen after a long drawn-out attack, after which the midfielder neatly tucked in the 1-0. Despite the superiority and many chances (including a penalty kick), the score remained at 1-0.
The home win was win number eleven this season in Europe, also equaling the European campaign in 2015. Another striking statistic: the Belgians have scored in every game since the group stages, a feat no other team has managed this season.
Club will have to do without the suspended Maxim De Cuyper, Igor Thiago and Brandon Mechele on Thursday. For Brandon Mechele, this marks the end of a run of 46 consecutive games in which the defender has appeared in action.
Top striker in Europe is still Andreas Skov Olsen with 7 goals, the highest number of goals in one European season by a Club player (along with Joseph Akpala). The suspended Maxim De Cuyper has set up the most Bruges goals so far in Europe, with four assists.
This season, Club has already scored 119 goals. The highest number of goals ever scored in a single Brugge season is 136, the record of the 2015 season.
If Club can reach the Semis, it will do so for the first time in 32 years. Back in 1992, Club faced German Werder Bremen in the European Cup II Semi Finals. One year later, Antwerp was the last Belgian Club to reach a European semi final.
The winner of the game Fiorentina - Viktoria Pilzen (out game 0-0) at 18:45 will be Club's or PAOK's opponent in the semi finals.