Club loses 1-2 to Union

Club Brugge suffered a 1-2 defeat at home against Union. Blauw-Zwart had most of the ball, but the visitors struck home just before and just after the half-time whistle. Hans Vanaken pulled one back in stoppage time.

Rik De Mil initially wrote down the same eleven names on the tactical board as last week against Genk, but Andreas Skov Olsen had to drop out with an injury he picked up during the warm-up. It was Cisse Sandra - with a good stint as a sub last week - who took the Dane's place. Club claimed the ball from the opening minute, but it was Union that carved out the first chances: Mignolet had to save Adingra's shot and an effort by Lazare whizzed wide.

It took Club fifteen minutes to turn ball possession in goal danger. A shot by Lang was first blocked, but then a siege of the visiting goal followed. A good cross from Meijer was cleared just in front of Sandra and then Meijer headed a cross from Lang just over the crossbar. On the half hour, there was a great attacking move between Sandra and Vanaken to get Rits in the open, but his cross was cleared into a corner.

Club was in control, but in the meantime had to watch out for Union's nimble strikers. Spileers breathed a sigh of relief that his wrongly placed pass didn't turn into a goal via Adingra and Boniface. Blauw-Zwart upped the pressure on Union: a hard strike by Meijer was parried by Moris, while Spileers headed a corner kick by Sandra onto the outside of the crossbar. Instead of 1-0, however, it was Union that broke deadlock with five minutes on the clock. Van der Heyden sent Victor Boniface through on goal and he slammed it hard and low past Mignolet.

A tough pill to swallow for Club, who had to deal with another setback immediately after the break: a long-distance shot by Lazare took a deflection on Spileers and the ball went in: 0-2.

Coach De Mil quickly brought in Chemsdine Talbi to add fresh blood. Shortly before the hour-mark a good chance followed. Vanaken sent Lang deep, who teed up Jutglà, but the Spaniard saw his effort cleared on the line by Van der Heyden.

Club had to take plenty of risks and thus also had to leave a lot of space in the back of the defense. Victor Boniface in particular was a scourge for the Club defense. A deviated shot from the Nigerian first ended up in the side-netting and then he was able to tap in a cross from the right from close range. However, the goal was disallowed because the striker had just strayed offside. At the other end, a free-kick from Lang was cleared just in front of goal.

In the closing minutes De Mil sent on Nusa and Vermant, and later Odoi and Sylla. Club tried, but were unlucky in the final third. Moris kept out Nusa's strike and Mata's low drive. For Union Vertessen forced Mignolet into making a good save. 

Three minutes into stoppage time Hans Vanaken headed in for Club, but it was too late for a complete come-back.

Champions’ Play-Offs – Matchday 2
Attendance: 26.000 – Jan Breydelstadion
Referee: Lothar D’Hondt
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet – Clinton Mata, Brandon Mechele, Jorne Spileers (78’ Abakar Sylla), Bjorn Meijer – Mats Rits (68’ Antonio Nusa), Raphaël Onyedika, Hans Vanaken – Cisse Sandra (55’ Chemsdine Talbi), Ferran Jutglà (68’ Romeo Vermant), Noa Lang (78’ Denis Odoi). Bench: Josef Bursik, Nick Shinton en Kyriani Sabbe. Coach: Rik De Mil.
Union Saint-Gilloise: Anthony Moris – Ismaël Kandouss, Christian Burgess, Siebe Van der Heyden – Bart Nieuwkoop, Teddy Teuma, Senny Lynen, Lazare Amani (86’ Oussame El Azzouzi), Loïc Lapoussin – Simon Adingra (73’ Gustaf Nilsson), Victor Boniface (89’ Yorbe Vertessen). Coach: Karel Geraerts.
Yellow cards: Onyedika, Burgess, Vermant, Vanaken, Odoi, Morris.
Red cards: none
Goals: 41’ Boniface (0-1), 46’ Lazare (0-2), 93’ Vanaken (1-2).