After a tense game, Club Brugge kept the three points at home against Antwerp in extremis. After the victory against Lugano, another virtuous victory for Blauw-Zwart. Coach Ronny Deila was therefore very satisfied.
"It was a very balanced match, very tactical too. Both teams realized that the stakes were high. So there were few openings in the first half. That first goal was about the only real chance. Then in the second half things ran better and the 2-0 was closer than the 1-1. By that equalizer, everything was redoable, but it says something about the mental toughness of this group that we still won then. Hats off to the players, how they believe in themselves and in the team. Obviously we still have to play much better soccer, but you still see fear sometimes. But defensively it's very solid and that's already a good foundation. We now have three more points and have beaten a title rival. Moreover, we were also able to reverse that negative trend. During the previous league matches, it was sometimes not with us, but today it was. We also built in a little more defensive security so that we don't score goals as easily."
The Norwegian coach also had words of praise for match-winner Vanaken and for both center strikers Jutglà and Thiago. "Hans is an incredible player. Everyone obviously knows his qualities. He leads with composure and intelligence, and has excellent qualities in terms of passing and finishing. I am very grateful to be able to coach such players. Ferran, for his part, has been out for a long time and needs time to get back to his best level. He already knew on Wednesday that he would start today and was well prepared. As for Igor, it is still with ups and downs. He still needs to learn to deal with the pressure of a top team and also get used to a higher level." (SF)