Ivan Leko: "There was only one team playing soccer today"
It remained exciting for a long time, but Club Brugge finally grabbed a deserved three-peat against AA Gent. Ivan Leko was therefore very satisfied with his team's victory.
"There was only one team today that played soccer, took risks and was dominant. We played against a team that was missing some players and therefore limited itself mainly to defending and lurking on the counter. Based on the game and the chances, this was a deserved victory for us. We showed a lot of energy and created many chances. But if it stays 1-1, it doesn't buy you anything to be the better team. Fortunately that deserved 2-1 still fell."
Blauw-Zwart thus picks up six out of six in the league under Ivan Leko. "These have been busy and emotional weeks, but we are obviously happy with these two wins. With the busy calendar, this is certainly not evident. Today with Tzolis a key player was missing and on top of that Mechele dropped out early. But I am very happy with the substitutes. So you see that everyone is important. Now we can enjoy ourselves for a while, but from tomorrow we focus fully on Friday's game against Genk."
Hans Vanaken: "These three points are very much appreciated"
"These three points are very much appreciated," captain Hans Vanaken felt afterwards. "I think it was very difficult to play our best soccer because Gent was waiting for us with a very low block. They were hoping on the counter and on stoppages to score. That succeeded in the second half, and of course that didn't suit us.
We spent more than 90 minutes forcing ourselves to score that winning goal, and we finally succeeded about ten minutes before the whistle. That did a lot of good. We certainly didn't have many big chances today. I had a chance myself, but you have to react so quickly and in the end the ball goes wide. Keep looking for that goal was the message."
"I am therefore very happy that both our strikers were able to score, which will certainly be good for their confidence. Obviously there was a lot of commotion around this match last week, which I can well understand, but we as players didn't deal with that. We did realize that we had to perform on the field, and all in all, I think that worked out well today.
The trainer change is only fairly recent, but you feel there is a different dynamic under Leko, both in training and in match preparation. In the end, we have to show it on the pitch, and we will always try to do that. We already had a good foundation, and our new coach will add touches to that to make us play even better as a whole. In any case, we will stay on the trail of Union, and now if we can also get something in Genk, I will be quite satisfied."
Nicolò Tresoldi: "This match we absolutely wanted to win for the fans"
"Scoring is fun, and if it's a winning goal then, all the more so. This match we absolutely wanted to win for the fans, and we showed that. I'm also very happy that Romeo scored; we understand each other very well on and off the field."
Carlos Forbs: "We played pretty good soccer at times"
"I think this is an important victory," Carlos Forbs opened his press chat. "And certainly a more than deserved victory. We played pretty good soccer at times, with a high tempo and a lot of intensity, and were also able to create some chances. As a result, we were able to deservedly win. Of course, we really should have finished the job earlier, but that shows that it is not always easy to score, even when you get great chances. In doing so, I speak primarily for myself.
I personally felt no extra pressure, despite all the commotion surrounding the change of trainers at both teams. For me, it came down to getting the three points, which was difficult enough, as you have seen for yourself. We now have another week to prepare for the game against Genk and hopefully we can take the three points there as well, so we can go into the winter break with a good feeling."
Romeo Vermant: "Much more important is the win for the team"
"It's always nice to be Man of the Match, although I'm happy to share that title with Nicolò. Much more important is the win for the team today, and certainly the way we played. I'm very satisfied with my goal; I was just able to put a cat's paw against it. A game against Gent is always emotionally charged, but today it was even more so. It's very nice to finish this one winning."