Club wins 0-3 at KV Mechelen

Club Brugge won a big 0-3 victory over KV Mechelen. Blauw-Zwart had to look for an opening for a long time, but twenty minutes before time Krépin Diatta was able to strike twice. In the closing stages, David Okereke took care of the final decision. Thanks to this victory, Club is now five points ahead of Genk.

Club started Achter de Kazerne with the same eleven that beat Antwerp on Sunday. At KV Mechelen, eight members of the technical staff were infected with the corona virus. Coach Wouter Vrancken also had to resign in extremis, leaving Sven Swinnen to do the honors. Blauw-Zwart wanted to keep up the momentum and created the first threat after only thirty seconds. Thoelen, however, easily caught Vanaken's effort. At the other end, a Walsh header landed on the roof of the goal.

Both teams started very eagerly. Malinwa also kept constantly chasing, barely giving the Bruges players time to tap the ball around. Consequently, it was difficult to find openings. It was not until the half hour that chances started to appear again. Diatta served Rits, but the midfielder could not frame his attempt. Immediately after, Vanaken launched Diatta, who kicked the leather a meter wide. On the other side, Vranckx headed a Wernersson cross over goal.

With halftime approaching, Noa Lang had to be sidelined with a muscle injury. David Okereke was his replacement and he saw Thoelen save on a place ball from Rits. Club began to assert itself more and more and had the chance to take the lead on the stroke of halftime: De Ketelaere flicked a free kick at the head of Hans Vanaken, but Thoelen had an excellent reflex and cleared the ball out of the bottom corner.

After the break, Bruges tried to push forward immediately, but Vanaken was unable to take advantage of Bushiri's ball loss. At the other end, Mechelen came even closer to a goal: Walsh looked like he might score, but Clinton Mata made a great foot save on the goal line. Moments later, Mignolet took a shot from Storm, while Diatta hit the side netting on a pass from Rits.

Club were getting closer and closer to a goal, hitting the frame twice on the hour: a shot by Vanaken went against the outside of the post, while a deviation by Diatta swirled against the underside of the crossbar. Twenty minutes before time, the Brugge side finally got their reward: De Ketelaere cleverly made it to the back line and his cross was pushed in by Krépin Diatta. Thoelen then parried a shot by Okereke, but had to concede again a few minutes later: after a nice one-two between Vanaken and Diatta, the Senegalese slammed the 0-2 in.

In the closing stages Schoofs aimed the ball over, but Club was not in trouble. It controlled the game and went in search of a third goal. An attempt by Okereke went wide, while Thoelen parried a shot by De Ketelaere. In the final minute, after a beautiful attack, David Okereke scored the 0-3 in the roof of the goal. Thanks to this victory, Club Brugge is now five points ahead of Racing Genk.

Jupiler Pro League - Matchday 18
Spectators: none - AFAS Stadium
Referee: Jonathan Lardot
KV Mechelen: Yannick Thoelen - Sandy Walsh, Thibaut Peyre, Rocky Bushiri (70' Sheldon Bateau), Victor Wernersson - Rob Schoofs, Steven Defour (38' Onur Kaya) - Geoffry Hairemans, Aster Vranckx, Nikola Storm (71' Gustav Engvall) - Kerim Mrabti. Coach: Sven Swinnen.
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet - Clinton Mata, Odilon Kossounou, Brandon Mechele, Federico Ricca - Mats Rits, Éder Balanta (58' Simon Deli), Hans Vanaken - Krépin Diatta (84' Ignace Van der Brempt), Charles De Ketelaere, Noa Lang (37' David Okereke). Bank: Nick Shinton, Senne Lammens, Eduard Sobol, Thomas Van den Keybus, Michael Krmenčík and Youssouph Badji. Coach: Philippe Clement.
Yellow cards: Peyre, Storm, Bushiri.
Red cards: none
Goals: 69' Diatta (0-1), 74' Diatta (0-2), 89' Okereke (0-3).

Text: Steven Floin