For the final match in the League Phase of the UEFA Youth League, the Gunners of Arsenal U19 visited The NEST. After falling behind early, Club NXT U19 pounded the entire match against a staunchly defensive visitor in search of the three-point lead. The equalizer fell only shortly before time through Musuayi. Van Britsom scored the 2-1 in the very last minute. Thus, Club NXT U19 secures the next round of the UEFA Youth League in February and ends the League Phase with 15 well-deserved points and third place in the overall standings.
Led by captain Goemaere, Blauw-Zwart started the match eagerly. Winning meant certainty of the top six in the rankings and home advantage in the next round which is directly a knockout stage. Accordingly, the first chance of the match was for Club NXT U19. Musuayi's attempt was blocked. However, ball loss in midfield led to a sharp counter-punch by the English. They bypassed the Blue-Black defense and Agustien put the ball beyond the reach of Argus in goal. That was a setback for Club NXT U19, but after that the team took full control of the match. Amengai gave an assist to Lund Jensen, but goalkeeper Porter easily caught our Dane's low shot. Vandeperre, in turn, put the ball perfectly in front of goal, but Musuayi just missed. Verlinden then popped again from afar, but the ball disappeared wide of the post. Arsenal U19 was constantly put under pressure and committed more and more mistakes. Attempts by Lund Jensen and Musuayi did not yield a goal. Goalkeeper Porter had to punch away a chance from our slender striker. After a mistake on Vandeperre, Lund Jensen popped a free kick into the wall. At Arsenal U19, Nduka was able to take a shower after half an hour. After a tackle on Wins, he received a red card. Amengai then came close to an equalizer, but his shot skimmed just past the goal. Captain Goemaere was also unable to finish. He could not hit the ball properly. Just before halftime, Goemaere's header deflected off the post, but did not disappear into goal. We went to rest with a small deficit despite the very many goal chances.
At the start of the second half, Wins was replaced by Bisiwu. Club NXT U19 started to play even more attacking. Amengai passed to Musuayi, but he popped the first nice chance right at the goalie. Lund Jensen also found Porter in his way. Arsenal really did not bring a single attack to a successful conclusion. Goalkeeper Argus had no work, but we were still behind. Coach De Roeck brought more attacking force into the team with Kurtal and Van Britsom. Yet the deserved goal remained out despite chances for Musuayi, Bisiwu and Koren. The clock ticked on and the English won more and more time. Verlinden made a mistake and was shown a second yellow card. With ten against ten, Blauw-Zwart continued to look for a goal with just over ten minutes left on the clock. And five minutes before the end the goal did come. After a quick attack via Elbay on the right, Musuayi was able to tap in the 1-1 from close range. Even after that, Blauw-Zwart kept going. Arsenal kept stretching for time and replaced a few more players. In the very last minute of extra time, Van Britsom scored the well-earned goal on an assist from Kurtal. 2-1 and Club NXT U19 had won. With fifteen out of eighteen a handsome result in the UEFA Youth League and home advantage in the next knockout round in early February.
