Philippe Clement: "Also on Thursday we will play to win"

Philippe Clement saw his team put up a strong game and grab a deserved three-point lead. Club thus moved another step closer to its seventeenth national title, although it was rooting against a stiff Antwerp.

"We know we are playing against an opponent who has very strict discipline. As a result, you have to break open a block to force chances. In Antwerp, we fell short of small details to create chances. Also in the first half today we lacked coolness. There were a few shots from the penalty area, but not enough to score. So it was 0-0 at halftime. However, you know that if you keep pounding, sooner or later a goal can fall. That's what we did. Then you finally get ahead, but then of course it's annoying that we immediately took that equalizer. But everyone kept going. Then you make the second and several chances for a third followed. Antwerp still threw a lot of physical weapons in front in the closing stages, so you have to fight. But we did that from the first to the last second. I'm glad the players have finally been rewarded in these playoffs."

"Whether this match was crucial? No, because if we hadn't won, we'd still be first. But with these points we are taking a step forward anyway. I'm very happy for the boys that they got what they deserved before.

Thanks to this victory, Club Brugge will have enough of a point at Anderlecht on Thursday to play champion, but the Bruges coach refuses to speculate on a draw. "We will just focus on ourselves on Thursday. That's what we've been doing all year. We have to go to Anderlecht to win. That has always been the case, even in the European matches in, say, Paris or Rome. So we will prepare the match that way. Tonight the players are allowed to be exuberant for a while, without going crazy. But from tomorrow it will be rebuilding to Thursday, because we still have nothing in hand."

Due to Genk's victory yesterday over Anderlecht, Club could not yet become champions today. "I had told the players during the day. They had to think carefully for themselves if they wanted to watch that match. After all, you have no control over it. I gave them some alternatives, but a number of guys watched anyway. I have the disadvantage as a coach that I do have to watch everything. So I watched it live as Genk won after all. We don't have the title yet, but will fight very hard to get it. We have been in first place since October and we want to stay there. Whether it would be special to take the title at Anderlecht? It doesn't matter to me. A title is a title. After a few years, you don't remember where that happened." (SF)