On match day 5 of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Blue-Black traveled to Turkey for the clash with Besiktas JK. Club took an early lead through Nielsen and on the quarter hour Thiago doubled the score. After halftime, Thiago quickly decided the match with his second of the evening and the score was further extended by Onyedika and Skov Olsen. Club tanks confidence with a forfait victory against Besiktas!
Blauw-Zwart recorded a pleasing win at OH Leuven last Sunday and so coach Deila had little reason to make many changes to his starting eleven. Nevertheless, there were three substitutions in the starting eleven. In defense, Odoi came into the team at the expense of Buchanan and offensively we saw Skov Olsen return. He, along with Zinckernagel, played in support of Thiago and, as a result, Jutglà disappeared to the bench. The most notable absentee was captain Vanaken, who had remained suspended in Bruges. His replacement was named Onyedika, but it was Vetlesen who had to take Vanaken's role.
It was Club that started the match best by showing offensive momentum right away. That resulted fairly quickly in the opening goal! After 4 minutes the ball came to the feet of Nielsen and the Dane had time and space to lay on from outside the sixteen. His blast had a treacherous curve and that way goalkeeper Destanoğlu was surprised. A dream start for the Brugge side, then, and five minutes later Skov Olsen found Odoi at the far post with a low cross. The right back tried to kick in one time, but unfortunately missed his attempt completely. This proved to be only a postponement of further execution, as just before the quarter-hour mark the double lead was on the board. Skov Olsen sent Vetlesen deep on the right flank and the latter delivered the leather perfectly in front of goal where Thiago pushed the second Bruges goal against the nets. The home team had to recover from this double uppercut, but was able to threaten after 20 minutes. Rebic was played the ball and had time to connect, but his shot went wildly over goal.
Blue-Black realized they had to keep playing alert and drove the tempo up a bit again. On a counterattack, Vetlesen played the ball to Zinckernagel and the latter went for his own success. His attempt was a little too central and posed little problem for the Besiktas goalie. Ten minutes later we noted another good combination from the Bruges players via Zinckernagel and Skov Olsen, among others. The latter put the ball nicely in front of goal, but Thiago just couldn't reach it. The Brazilian striker did have a good presence in the match, as moments later he ran free well to decide from a sharp angle towards goal. Destanoğlu needed a good leg sweep to prevent the third goal against. Besiktas also threatened through Tosun, but his teammate Aboubakar got in the way of his header. After a strong opening quarter, the visitors took a double lead...
The second half started with two new names at Club, Skóras and Balanta, and the latter showed immediately. After a good ball recovery, Thiago was immediately launched and the Brazilian did not hesitate to pop his second goal of the evening into the roof of the goal. Club was consequently on a roll, but the hunger for goals was not yet satisfied. A few minutes later, Skóras laid the ball back for Onyedika, who placed the leather nicely away in the corner. So the visitors dominated the second half and moments later the forfait figures were also a reality. On a quick counter, Skóras found the back line and the Pole waited for the perfect moment to serve Skov Olsen. The Danish winger only had the 0-5 to tap in!
Blue-Black continued to fancy it, but (unfortunately) not every attempt landed against the nets. Jutglà slipped through the offside trap and was able to head alone at Destanoğlu. He tried to get around the goalkeeper, but he reacted alertly to take the leather out of the Catalan striker's feet. Meanwhile, a lot of substitutions were made on both sides and both clubs had had enough. Besiktas was unable to really threaten Mignolet and Club calmly played out the match.
Slovenian ref Šmajc allowed only one minute of replay, and after the final whistle, the home team's players left the field to a stinging whistle concert from the home fans. The visitors, on the other hand, gained confidence, but are not yet group winners. Indeed, Bodo Glimt also won 5-2 and so the last match (at home against the Norwegian team) will decide on winning the pool!
UEFA Europa Conference League - Playday 5
Spectators: 42.590 - Vodafone Park
Referee: David Šmajc (SLO)
Beşiktaş JK: Ersin Destanoğlu - Tayfur Bingöl (84' Aytuğ Kömeç), Onur Bulut, Omar Colley, Baktiyor Zainutdinov - Salih Uçan (56' Gedson Fernandes), Ege Tiknaz (56' Amir Hadziahmetovic), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - Cenk Tosun (64' Semih Kılıçsoy), Ante Rebić (46' Jackson Muleka), Vincent Aboubakar.
Bank: Göktuğ Baytekin, Utku Yuvakuran, Amir Hadziahmetovic, Emirhan Delibaş, Jackson Muleka, Mustafa Erhan Hekimoğlu, Aytuğ Kömeç, Serkan Terzi, Gedson Fernandes, Semih Kılıçsoy.
Coach: Rıza Çalımbay.
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet - Denis Odoi, Brandon Mechele, Jorne Spileers, Maxim De Cuyper - Raphael Onyedika, Casper Nielsen (46' Éder Balanta), Hugo Vetlesen (59' Antonio Nusa) - Andreas Skov Olsen, Igor Thiago (59' Ferran Jutglà), Philip Zinckernagel (46' Michal Skóras).
Bench: Nordin Jackers, Tajon Buchanan, Ferran Jutglà, Joel Ordóñez, Antonio Nusa, Michal Skóras, Bjorn Meijer, Éder Balanta, Shion Homma.
Coach: Ronny Deila.
Yellow cards: Nielsen, Salih Uçan
Red cards: none
Goals: 4' Nielsen (0-1), 14' Thiago (0-2), 46' Thiago (0-3), 51' Onyedika (0-4), 70' Skov Olsen (0-5)