Tonight is the European round of the UEFA Conference League semifinals! At 9 p.m., AFC Fiorentina and Club Brugge kick off the match at the Artemio Franchi stadium.
The match
As many as 178 clubs participated in this edition of the UEFA Conference League. Now four teams remain in the running for the trophy, including Club Brugge.
It is the fifth semifinal in a European cup in Club's history after 1975-76 (UEFA Cup), 1977-78 (European Cup I), 1987-88 (UEFA Cup) and 1991-92 (European Cup II). So it has been 32 years since Club made it this far in Europe.
Tonight, Blauw-Zwart will play its 360thEuropean match in its history, Fiorentina its 221st match on the European stage. For the 111th time a Belgian and an Italian club will face each other in Europe, but never before did FCB take on La Gigliati. This makes the Tuscan club Club's 133rdunique opponent in Europe and also the 7th Italian team that Blauw-Zwart will face.
On Italian soil, Club achieved 2 wins, 3 draws and 5 defeats in the past. The last confrontation with an Italian team dates back to December 2020. Then Club Brugge played a 2-2 draw on the field of S.S. Lazio after goals by Vormer and Vanaken.
There are 4 players who played for both Blauw-Zwart and La Viola: Antolin Alcaraz (Par), Sofyan Amrabat (Mar), Paul Okon (Aus) and Javier Portillo (Esp). Of the current core, Skov Olsen is the only player who was ever active in Serie A (Bologna FC). Never before has an Italian player played in the colors of FCB.
For Club, it is already the 58th match of the season. In terms of highest number of matches in Europe, FCB is ahead of first pursuers Liverpool FC (Eng), PAOK FC (Gre) and Qarabağ FK (Aze), who are at 55 matches, but are eliminated in Europe. Blue-Black will have played at least 18 European matches this season. In doing so, it breaks its club record from the 2014-15 season (then 16).
Club already scored 39 times this season in Europe. That is a pulverization of the club record from 2001-02 (then 30 goals). Club won 12 of its 16 matches, breaking the 2014-15 record (then 11 wins).
Andreas Skov Olsen is the top shooter in Europe. The Dane scored 7 goals already this season, equaling Joseph Akpala's season record in Europe (also 7 goals in the 2011-12 season). Ferran Jutglá has been involved in a goal every time in his last 3 European matches (2 goals + 2 assists).