Three days after the away match, Club and Antwerp face each other again, this time at Jan Breydel. Read all Club Facts below!
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Club - Antwerp: the Club Facts
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The match
It is the 162nd First Division showdown between the two clubs. The 80 previous home matches against The Great Old ended in 46 wins (last time 1-0 on 02/02/2020), 16 draws (last time 0-0 on 24/10/1993) and 18 defeats (last time 0-2 on 21/03/2021). In the regular competition, Club lost 0-2 to RAFC at home. After 9 minutes Didier Lamkel Ze punished a misunderstanding and just before the break Lior Refaelov kicked in a penalty. Thus ended a run of 16 unbeaten home matches.
In the 2018-2019 season, the two clubs faced each other for the first time in Play-Off 1, when Club made it 3-2 at home to Antwerp. Loïs Openda (2x) and Jelle Vossen then hit hits for Club, the visitors shook the nets through Amara Baby and Dieumerci Mbokani.
Club is now 5 points ahead of KRC Genk, which travels to Anderlecht. Blauw-Zwart can get its 17th national title in these 2 instances on Sunday:
- Genk loses at Anderlecht: then a draw by Club against Antwerp is enough for the title.
- Anderlecht and Genk draw: then Club is champion provided a win against Antwerp.
Club's top shooter remains Noa Lang with 15 goals. Assist king is still Ruud Vormer, who put a teammate on the way to a goal 10 times. Both Hans Vanaken and Noa Lang need to avoid a yellow card to avoid missing the away match at Anderlecht. At purple and white, Josh Cullen is in suspension danger.
Opponent.
Antwerp will play the 2nd away game of their PO1 campaign at Jan Breydel. Like Club, The Reds achieved a 2 out of 9 from their first 3 PO1 matches. They lost 2-3 to KRC Genk and played equal against RSCA (2-2) and Club Brugge (0-0). Frank Vercauteren's team is 8 points behind Club and would be eliminated for the title if it cannot win Sunday.
For the first time in 5 matches, Dieumerci Mbokani could not have a decisive season for Antwerp. He remains top shooter at Antwerp with 13 goals. Antwerp cannot call on the suspended Birger Verstraete. The former Club player picked up a yellow card in every PO1 match.
Milestones
In his 500th professional match at club level last Thursday, Simon Mignolet once again did what he is so good at: stringing together clean sheets. For the 15th time this season, the Limburger kept the zero for Club in the league. In his magnificent career, it was already his 165th clean sheet. Odilon Kossounou recorded a pass accuracy of 96.8% against R. Antwerp (61 out of 63). That is the highest pass accuracy for a Club player this season in the Jupiler Pro League (with at least 20 passes).
Mats Rits can play his 125th game for Club Brugge. Simon Mignolet may be between the posts for the 90th time at Blauw-Zwart. It could also be the 130th game in First Division for Mignolet (66 for STVV and 63 for Club). For David Okereke and Bas Dost, it could be respectively the 70th and 20th match for Club. In addition, Okereke may also complete his 50th league match for Club.
The referee
Nicolas Laforge was designated ref for the first match of the return round of the Champions' Playoffs. The 34-year-old Hainaut player will lead a match of Club Brugge KV for the 33rd time. Furthermore, he will lead a game of R. Antwerp FC for the 21st time. 14 times before, Laforge whistled a home match of Club. These ended in 9 wins, 3 draws and 2 defeats. 11 times in the past Laforge led an away match of red and white. These resulted in 4 wins, 2 draws and 5 defeats.
4 times previously Laforge whistled a game between the two clubs:
- 19/05/2019 | PO1 | Club Brugge KV - R. Antwerp FC 3 - 2
- 01/08/2020 | CUP Final | Club Brugge KV - R. Antwerp FC 0 - 1
- 13/12/2020 | JPL | R. Antwerp FC - Club Brugge KV 0 - 2
- 21/03/2021 | JPL | Club Brugge KV - R. Antwerp FC 0 - 2
Earlier this season, Laforge whistled both the outward and return match between Club and Antwerp (0-2 each time) in the regular competition. He also handled Club's home and away games against Standard (3-1 and 1-1). For Antwerp, he also whistled the home game against KVMechelen (4-1) and the Champions' Playoffs match against KRC Genk (2-3).