Club Brugge sent AA Gent home empty-handed following a 2-0 win at Jan Breydel. Igor Thiago gave Blauw-Zwart the lead halfway the first half and he bagged his brace five minutes before the half-time interval when he slotted home his second spot kick, with Kandouss being sent off.
De Brugse basiself onderging twee wijzigingen in vergelijking met de partij van donderdag tegen Bodø/Glimt. Op het middenveld kreeg Raphael Onyedika de voorkeur op Hugo Vetlesen en links vooraan kwam Philip Zinckernagel in de plaats van Antonio Nusa. Achterin behield Joel Ordóñez zijn basisplaats en nam Maxim De Cuyper opnieuw de rechterflank voor zijn rekening.
Coach Deila made two changes compared to Thursday's 3-1 win over Bodø/Glimt. Hugo Vetlesen and Antonio Nusa dropped to the bench and were replaced by Raphael Onyedika and Hugo Vetlesen. Joel Ordóñez kept his spot in the heart of the defence and Maxim De Cuyper played as right full-back again.
AA Gent was best out of the starting blocks and made a penalty appeal after five minutes after a minor contact between Mechele and Cuypers inside the area, but referee Lardot let play continue and the VAR did not intervene. It took Club almost fifteen minutes to create a glut of half-chances. Zinckernagel's header was an easy catch for Roef, Vanaken saw an effort blocked and afterwards Zinckernagel did not link up well with Skov Olsen. A few minutes later Nielsen put Zinckernagel through on goal, but the Dane was crowded out.
Halfway the first half Blauw-Zwart managed to open the scoring. Lardot had let a foul from Kums on Zinckernagel slide, but he pointed to the spot after an on pitch review. Igor Thiago behind the ball and he hammered it brilliantly in the top corner. This allowed Blauw-Zwart to sit back a little more and try to take advantage of the space behind the Gent defense. Five minutes before half-time, Vanaken cleverly played in Thiago. The Brazilian rounded Roef and then saw his goalbound effort being kept out by Kandouss with his hand. A straight red for the defender and another spot kick for the hosts. This time Igor Thiago rolled it into the left corner.
Gent tried to respond after the break, but Club obviously took no chances being in the numerical advantage and leading the game 2-0. Vanaken tried his luck but his header was too tame to trouble Roef. Both sets of fans then had to wait to the hour-mark to see another chance, when Tissoudali struck from outside the penalty area but the ball whizzed just wide.
Ronny Deila made some changes by bringing on Spileers and Nusa, but the pattern of play remained unchanged. AA Gent was unable to make it difficult for Blauw-Zwart, while Club just wanted to control the game. With fifteen minutes on the clock Tissoudali almost halved the deficit when he was sent through on goal and lobbed the ball over the goalkeeper, but De Cuyper had returned just in time to keep the ball out. On the other side Skov Olsen failed to make it three when he skied his finish from close range.
The victory was no longer in danger and thus Club narrows the gap with Gent to two points.
Jupiler Pro League – Matchday 18
Attendance: 29.042 – Jan Breydelstadion
Referee: Jonathan Lardot
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet – Maxim De Cuyper, Joel Ordóñez (64’ Jorne Spileers), Brandon Mechele, Bjorn Meijer – Casper Nielsen (28’ Hugo Vetlesen), Raphael Onyedika (86’ Éder Balanta), Hans Vanaken – Andreas Skov Olsen, Igor Thiago (86’ Ferran Jutglà), Philip Zinckernagel (64’ Antonio Nusa).
Bench: Nordin Jackers, Axl De Corte en Tajon Buchanan. Coach: Ronny Deila.
KAA Gent: Davy Roef – Ismael Kandouss, Tsuyoshi Watanabe, Nurio Fortuna (46’ Bram Lagae) – Matisse Samoise, Sven Kums, Julien De Sart, Hyunseok Hong (92’ Noah Fadiga), Malick Fofana – Hugo Cuypers (85’ Gift Orban), Tarik Tissoudali (85’ Omri Gandelman). Coach: Hein Vanhaezebrouck.
Yellow cards: none
Red cards: 40’ Kandouss.
Goals: 24’ Thiago (penalty, 1-0), 41’ Thiago (penalty, 2-0).
