Club goes down 1-5 against Manchester City

Club Brugge suffered its first defeat in the Champions League against Manchester City. The English proved to be too big for Blauw-Zwart and won 1-5. Hans Vanaken was able to save the honour for Club in the closing stages.

Philippe Clement chose the same team that was able to excel against PSG and Leipzig. The team that started Friday's game against KV Kortrijk underwent three changes. At the back, Jack Hendry and Eduard Sobol replaced Mechele and Maouassa, while in midfield Éder Balanta replaced Vormer. For the visitors, Red Devil Kevin De Bruyne appeared at the kickoff.

Manchester City monopolized the ball from the opening minute and gave Blauw-Zwart no chance to get into the game. The Englishmen tapped the ball around smoothly and played soccer almost constantly in Club Brugge's half. After ten minutes, Grealish was able to score, but his goal was disallowed because of a foul on Mata. Immediately afterwards, a goal by Rodri was also disallowed due to offside. The visitors' pressure continued to increase, but a shot by Foden stranded in the side netting, while De Bruyne - from offside - aimed straight at Mignolet.

De Bruges held out for a long time, but had to fold on the half hour. João Cancelo cleverly took a pass from Foden and slid the ball under Mignolet in goal. Club then tried to put more pressure, but had to acknowledge its superiority to Manchester City. It got no further than a blocked shot by Lang and a free kick by De Ketelaere. Moreover, on the stroke of halftime Blauw-Zwart scored a second goal: Nsoki brought down Riyad Mahrez on the edge of the sixteen meters and the Algerian kicked the penalty without fail. Immediately afterwards, Mignolet parried another shot by the same Mahrez, while a shot by De Bruyne went over the goal.

Even after the break, the Bruges players could not immediately make a fist. City did not settle for the double lead and kept pushing forward. Mahrez and Foden were just unable to score at first, but after eight minutes in the second half, Walker was able to do so. The right back dived into the back of the Bruges defense and fired the 0-3 cross.

Philippe Clement then threw Vormer and Van der Brempt into the fray, but the pattern of play remained unchanged. The visitors continued to smoothly tap the ball around and patiently look for more goals: Mignolet parried an effort by Foden and a free kick by Mahrez went over goal. Midway through the second half, however, the Bruges goalkeeper had to concede a fourth. Young Cole Palmer, who had just come on to replace Kevin De Bruyne, curled the 0-4 into goal.

In the closing stages Club was finally able to threaten more, spurred on by the strong substitute Van der Brempt. First De Ketelaere headed his cross towards goal, but Ederson dived the ball out of the corner. Ten minutes before the end it worked: a cross from Van der Brempt went via Vormer to Vanaken, who kicked the ball into the corner. For the Limburger it was the fifth game in a row that he could score in the Champions League. Dost and Vormer both also threatened, but it was Mahrez who made it 1-5.

Champions League: Group A - match day 3
Spectators: 28,000 - Jan Breydelstadion
Referee: István Kovács (Roe)
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet - Clinton Mata, Jack Hendry, Stanley Nsoki (79' Brandon Mechele), Eduard Sobol - Mats Rits (56' Ruud Vormer), Éder Balanta (68' Noah Mbamba), Hans Vanaken - Kamal Sowah (56' Ignace Van der Brempt), Charles De Ketelaere (79' Bas Dost), Noa Lang. Bench: Senne Lammens, Faitout Maouassa, Federico Ricca and José Izquierdo. Coach: Philippe Clement.
Manchester City: Ederson - Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte (57' Nathan Aké), João Cancelo - Rodri (71' Fernandinho), Kevin De Bruyne (64' Cole Palmer), Bernardo Silva (57' Ilkay Gündogan) - Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden (64' Raheem Sterling), Jack Grealish. Coach: Pep Guardiola.
Yellow cards: Mata, Laporte, Nsoki, Balanta.
Red cards: none
Goals: 30' Cancelo (0-1), 43' Mahrez (penalty, 0-2), 53' Walker (0-3), 67' Palmer (0-4), 81' Vanaken (1-4), 83' Mahrez (1-5).

Text: Steven Floin