Philippe Clement: “Full steam ahead again on Sunday at Genk”

Prior to the game, Club Boss Philippe Clement said it would take a miracle for Club to get past Manchester United. It was not to be, however, as Club capsized with a 5-0 score in the end, seeing its European dreams in shatters.

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“A very fiery Manchester gave us a rough start. We conceded two chances, and Simon produced a fine save. Still, the game was back in balance after that. As from what I heard, we could have been rewarded a spot kick, as Maguire held on to Okereke's leg. That opportunity for Rits also could have gone in. But unfortunately, there was that red card which is also up for dispute. With 10 and 1-0 down, the task gets ever so hard, and it's really game over. Deli indicated it was a reaction, and not his intention. He apologised in front of the group. It was an instantaneous reaction, which is a pity of course. But I won't forget what he has done for our group in the past couple of months. There will be no pointing towards him. Prior to these two games, we knew we would have to be on par twice, and that circumstances would have to be in our advantage in order to get past teams of this calibre. We weren't on par twice, so in the end Manchester going through is a deserved thing."

Philippe Clement
Philippe Clement

“It's very disappointing to be bowing out of Europe like this. We would have loved to measure ourselves on this level 11vs11. It's not like this one game puts a shadow on the entire campaign. We had some fantastic nights in Bruges and on the road. We will be taking the good things with us, and also lots of experience for our young players. They will be reaping the fruit of that later on in their careers. The defeat did strike us, as I saw in the dressing room. We're all winners. We hate losing, so it's a bit of a hard evening for us tonight. But on Sunday, there's another game. We have now played 11 games in 38 days. I reckon we are the team with the most matches in the past weeks in all of Europe. But we will be going full steam ahead again on Sunday at Genk.” (SF)

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