Hans Vanaken converted a penalty on the hour after a foul on Charles De Ketelaere. The midfielder thus dealt a second blow to Zenit and saw the team deliver a fine collective performance.
"There was indeed little to criticize. From minute one we executed the plan we wanted and also in a good way. We saw right away that there was enormous space to play soccer. Totally different from last weekend in Mouscron, we knew that. We started the match with a good mentality and the right focus. Then you see that you can immediately turn such a match to your will. Zenit had to win to still claim third place. That was to our advantage. They had to come and that was clear from the start. They gave away space and went forward with a lot of people. We had to take advantage of that. It's good that we got to 1-0 right away and played out that match from there. Zenit was not the best, but you have to do it. The Champions League is still something special that you want to excel in as a player, including Zenit. Only now was the time to catch them. Also with an eye on next week where we get another game where it matters. We managed to do that. We are enormously satisfied. That was the goal today too, to win the match to have a match next week with only something to win. That's fantastic. If we can still do that, we're talking about an exceptional campaign." (KN)
