Club Brugge was unable to stunt in the Champions League. Blauw-Zwart went down 0-3 at home against Arsenal. Noni Madueke put the English side ahead halfway through the first half. Despite numerous chances, Club could not score against them. Instead, it was Arsenal that took the lead shortly after halftime through again Madueke and Martinelli.
Ivan Leko had provided two substitutions compared to the team that went down to STVV on Saturday. Carlos Forbs replaced Hugo Vetlesen and normally Simon Mignolet would have returned in goal. However, the Limburger was hindered during the warm-up and had to withdraw in extremis. Consequently, Dani van den Heuvel was allowed to take his place in goal again.
Arsenal is in the lead in the Champions League and Premier League and immediately showed that it had no intention of giving up its unbeaten status. Van den Heuvel had to save Ødegaard's shot after only a few minutes. Club responded with a breakout from Forbs, but goalkeeper Raya was just a bit earlier on the ball. The Londoners tapped the ball around smoothly and came close to a goal after 20 minutes. First White deviated a shot by Lewis-Skelly against the post and immediately after, a header by Gyökeres went just wide. On the other side, Raya had no problem with a shot by Tresoldi.
Halfway through the first half, Arsenal was able to open the scoring: Noni Madueke shook off Seys and Onyedika and fired a hard shot into the top corner. Moments later Vanaken swept a ball off the goal line and Van den Heuvel had to save as well. In the final quarter of the first half, the Bruges players came up with more chances: Vanaken cleverly diverted a cross from Forbs behind the supporting leg, but wide, a great shot from Stanković went inches wide and Raya saved shots from Forbs, Tzolis and Stanković again. On the stroke of halftime, Van den Heuvel also had to intervene on an attempt by Madueke.
Blauw-Zwart deserved the equalizer, but at the start of the second half they immediately got the lid on the nose. A stray cross from Zubimendi landed at the far post on the head of Madueke, who was able to head in the 0-2. Moments later, White deviated the leather wide of goal. Club responded with a shot from Tzolis, but it was still the English who were able to score a third time before the hour: Gabriel Martinelli cut inside and curled the 0-3 into the far corner.
It was book time for Blauw-Zwart, which did everything in its power to save the honor. A shot by Mechele was blocked, an effort by Tzolis went wide, Raya parried a shot by Furo, a header by Stanković went just wide and an effort by Meijer also rolled wide. At the other end, a shot by Jesus hit the top of the crossbar and Van den Heuvel had to intervene on a cross from Saka and a slide by Jesus.
Club forgot to reward itself despite numerous chances and needed a strong Dani van den Heuvel in the closing stages to prevent further disaster. The Dutch goalkeeper had two fine reflexes on shots by substitute Nwaneri and so it remained 0-3. Through this defeat Blauw-Zwart will have to win the remaining matches against Kairat Almaty and Marseille anyway in order to qualify for the next round of the Champions League.
UEFA Champions League - Playday 6
Spectators: 29,000 - Jan Breydelstadion
Referee: Sven Jablonski (Ger)
Club Brugge: Dani van den Heuvel- Hugo Siquet (67' Bjorn Meijer), Joel Ordóñez, Brandon Mechele, Joaquin Seys (74' Kyriani Sabbe) - Aleksandar Stanković, Raphael Onyedika (74' Hugo Vetlesen), Hans Vanaken - Carlos Forbs (83' Mamadou Diakhon), Nicolò Tresoldi (67' Kaye Furo), Christos Tzolis. Bench: Axl De Corte, Zaid Romero, Cisse Sandra, Romeo Vermant, Gustaf Nilsson, Jorne Spileers and Shandre Campbell. Coach: Ivan Leko.
Arsenal FC: David Raya - Ben White (82' Marli Salmon), Christian Nørgaard, Piero Hincapié (62' Riccardo Calafiori), Myles Lewis-Skelly - Martin Ødegaard (71' Ethan Nwaneri), Martin Zubimendi, Mikel Merino - Noni Madueke (71' Bukayo Saka), Viktor Gyökeres (62' Gabriel Jesus), Gabriel Martinelli. Coach: Mikel Arteta.
Yellow cards: Nørgaard, White.
Red cards: none
Goals: 25' Madueke (0-1), 47' Madueke (0-2), 56' Martinelli (0-3).