The Belgian Cup Semis served up a clash between Club Brugge and Union SG, the first leg disputed at Jan Breydel. The solid step that would have been the 2-0 victory in minute 89, goals courtesy of Andreas Skov Olsen and Ferran Jutglà, was cut to just the one goal margin by the very end of the game as Koki Machida pulled back one for Union. The return at the Dudenpark is scheduled on Wednesday 28 February.
Three personnel changes to the team that had suffered defeat at Antwerp over the weekend: the injured Maxim De Cuyper, Hugo Vetlesen and Philip Zinckernagel made way for Denis Odoi, Eder Balanta and Ferran Jutglà. The hosts took matters in hand straight from kick-off of the 40th official game this season, and were rewarded just ten minutes down the track. Club recovering the ball on its own half, finding Jutglà on the left hand side who produced a great wing change towards Skov Olsen who, true to form, pushed on towards the box, cutting inside to majestically fire it in in bottom left hand corner (1-0). The goal shook Union, and the visitors now started putting their foot next that of Club without creating real danger. An attentive Casper Nielsen blocked Noah Sadiki's effort, and Mohammed Amoura's header ended up in the eager hands of Simon Mignolet. The remainder of the first half proved rather uneventful, with the exception of a couple of bookings, and the two teams headed for the dressing rooms with a well-earned 1-0 advantage for Blue and Black.
