Match Day 26 of the Jupiler Pro League put the two Bruges teams head-to-head. The hosts opened the score after a magnificent dribble by Minda, only to see it overcome by Jutglà's header to make it 1-1 on the night.
After the emphatic home win over Eupen, coach Deila saw no reasons to rattle his Starting XI. Still, some substitutions were made: both Vanaken and Thiago returned from suspension and reclaimed their places, forcing Skóraś and Jutglà to man the bench once again. In the back, Ordóñez was opted for at the expense of Spileers. Cercle Brugge had to make do without captain Somers, out suspended.
Club clearly came to take the three points "home", resulting in a first big threat seconds into the game: Meijer with the low cross where Skov Olsen pulled back to De Cuyper, but the latter could not get the best of touches to the ball, seeing it go just wide. The hosts' goal scorer Denkey first aimed a volley high over, but was set up by Minda a bit later by the far post. The striker had a go with an acute attempt, but Mignolet got a foot to the attempt. Fifteen minutes into the game, the Cercle defense stepped out too eagerly letting Thiago escape the off side trap and off towards goal, but the Brazilian was unable to get his shot in between the posts and fired a waning chance over.
Lacking of clear cut chances the game stumbled on. A fine cross by Nielsen saw Nusa heading it back to Skov Olsen, but the winger's one-time shot went wide. Cercle also tried his luck, and some fine interaction between Lemaréchal and Augusto resulted in a shot curling away from goal. The dying minutes of the first half saw a lot of dueling, but no more chances.
The same 22 protagonists in the second half, with lots of fighting for the ball and long ball play, but starved of chances. Ten minutes into the second half, the home crowd screamed for a spot kick after Lemaréchal went down after a duel with Vanaken, but Lardot waved on. Moments later, Meijer's header upon a fine corner kick was neatly stopped by keeper Warleson, after which Minda picked up the ball within his own box, surged forward crossing the entire pitch to finally put it past Mignolet to make it 1-0. An unbelievable goal, despite lacklustre defending on Club side.
A blow to Club's aspirations, but the visitors remained in charge in a better second half for Club. Upon the hour mark, Meijer made his way through the right wing, pulling it back to Thiago who had all the time in the world to tuck in the equaliser, but recklessly fired it over. Bringing on Jutglà for Ordóñez, Club now really started piling on the pressure, and with ten minutes on the clock, Club finally drew level: Nusa with the perfect cross to find Jutglà in front of goal to head in the equaliser. As the tumultuous second half drew to an end, Thiago seemed through on goal but Warleson beat him to the ball. Ref Lardot saw a foul by Thiago, kicking Warleson in a late attempt to get to the ball, but the ensuing red card was cancelled by VAR, judging that the Brazilian did his best not to hurt the keeper.
With 13 minutes of additional time, Club felt like more was in it, and a great chance did indeed follow: Nusa with the pull-back to Jutglà, but this time the Spanish forward did not get a good touch to the ball seeing it whizz past. To make matters worse, Club was down to ten after another booking for Thiago after a high elbow charge. The derby ending in a frustrating draw for the visitors, Union and Anderlecht profited, furthering their lead at the top of the table. Next up on Sunday is the clasch with runners-up RSC Anderlecht!
Jupiler Pro League – Match Day 26
Audience: 16,000 – Jan Breydel Stadium
Ref: Mr. Jonathan Lardot
Cercle Brugge: Warleson – Edgaras Utkus (78’ Jonas Lietaert), Boris Popovic, Jesper Daland, Senna Miangue – Leonardo Lopes Da Silva, Hannes Van Der Bruggen, Félix Lemaréchal – Alan Minda (78’ Abdoul Kader Ouattara), Felipe Augusto (71’ Malamine Efekele), Kévin Denkey.
Bench: Maxime Delanghe, Sébastien Bruzzese, Malamine Efekele, Abu Francis, Kazeem Olaigbe, Rayan El Bahri, Jonas Lietaert, Jordan Semedo, Abdoul Kader Ouattara. Coach: Miron Muslic.
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet – Maxim De Cuyper, Joel Ordóñez (72’ Ferran Jutglà), Brandon Mechele, Bjorn Meijer – Éder Balanta, Casper Nielsen (90+2’ Michał Skóraś), Hans Vanaken - Andreas Skov Olsen (90+10’ Jorne Spileers), Igor Thiago, Antonio Nusa (90+10’ Raphael Onyedika).
Bench: Josef Bursik, Denis Odoi, Michał Skóraś, Ferran Jutglà, Raphael Onyedika, Dedryck Boyata, Jorne Spileers, Shion Homma, Kyriani Sabbe.
Coach: Ronny Deila.
Yellow: Thiago (2x), Odoi, Skóraś
Red: Thiago (2x geel)
Goals: 60' Minda (1-0), 81' Jutglà (1-1)
