Club Brugge - KAA Gent: the Club Facts

The final three games of 2023 are coming up. Next Sunday, KAA Gent will be guests at Jan Breydel for the Battle of Flanders. Prepare perfectly for this match with the Club Facts!

The match

It is the 156th First Division confrontation between the two teams. The 77 previous home matches produced 44 wins (last time 2-0 on 26/02/2023), 14 draws (last time 1-1 on 03/02/2019) and 19 defeats (last time 1-2 on 06/02/2022).

Club was only able to win the last 3 home matches in the league. Last year's 2-0 was Club's only win in the last 5 mutual duels (1W 4L) in the Jupiler Pro League.

Hans Vanaken already scored 8 times in the league against Gent. No Club player ever did better than the captain.

Simon Mignolet had to concede a counter goal last Thursday for the first time in 8 official duels. Still, the penalty goal could not prevent Club from beating Norwegian FK Bodø/Glimt (3-1) and taking the group win. The next European matches are now not until March 2024 for Club.

In the league, Club already kept the zero four times in a row. If Club manages to keep zero against Gent as well, they will achieve 5 clean sheets in a row for the first time since December 2020.

Andreas Skov Olsen is still Club's top shooter in the league with 7 goals. The Dane could not score in his last 6 league matches. With 5 assists, Maxim De Cuyper is still Blauw-Zwart's best striker.

Raphael Onyedika and Hugo Vetlesen need to avoid a yellow card in order not to miss the away match in Molenbeek.

The opponent

Hein Vanhaezebrouck's troops are having a good season and are in 3rd place in the rankings. Remarkably, the Buffaloes have only lost once this season in the Jupiler Pro League.

However, in the group stage of the Conference League, KAA Gent had to acknowledge its superiority to Israeli Maccabi Tel-Aviv last Thursday. That defeat allowed Gent to miss out on a group win.

Last week it was announced that KAA Gent and Club Brugge KV will open the new calendar year with a mutual duel. Both teams were drawn against each other in the quarterfinals of the Croky Cup.

KAA Gent already gained 8 points against top 6 clubs. Only Standard is doing even better (10 points). The Rouches did lose out in the previous home game at Jan Breydel.

The Buffaloes achieved 13 out of 24 on the road. They won at KV Mechelen (0-1), KVC Westerlo (1-3) and Sporting Charleroi (1-3), drew against OHL (1-1), Antwerp (0-0), R.W.D.M. (1-1) and KRC Genk (2-2) and lost to Cercle Brugge (2-0).

AA Gent's top shooter in the Jupiler Pro League is Tarik Tissoudali (6 goals). Sven Kums (3 assists) is the best striker.

Milestones

• Hans Vanaken can play his 420th match for Club.
• Casper Nielsen and Raphael Onyedika can finish their 70th match for Club. Casper Nielsen can also play his 50th league match for Club.
• For Hugo Vetlesen, it could be the 30th match at Club. The other summer acquisition Michal Skoras can play his 20th match.

The referee

Jonathan Lardot was appointed ref for this game.

He is assisted by linesmen Quentin Blaise and Florian Lemaire. The fourth official is Nathan Verboomen.

The VAR on duty is Lawrence Visser, flanked by Ella De Vries and Mario Vanlommel.