PLOEG NEWS
CLUB BRUGGE
Thanks to the spacious 0-6 win against Zulte Waregem, Blauw-Zwart has climbed to third place in the rankings. The Bruggelings took the lead through an owngoal by Deschacht and increased their bonus in the first half thanks to goals by Krmenčík (2x) and Vanaken. After the break, De Ketelaere and Balanta provided the 0-6 final score. With 16 goals, the West Flemish scored the most in the Jupiler Pro League. The national champion tanked extra confidence thanks to the 9 out of 9 in the previous three league matches and also in the Bruges city derby it goes resolutely for the three points. The previous 73 duels with Club as home team resulted in 45 wins, 16 draws and 12 defeats. Last season, Blauw-Zwart won 6 out of 6 against Club. In the outward round, Club won 0-2 thanks to goals from Diatta and Dennis. In the return round, it was 2-1 thanks to goals by Vanaken and Diatta. Cercle scored the honorary winner in injury time through Hazard. Philippe Clement remained unbeaten in ten Brugge city derbies as a player/trainer. As a coach he achieved two wins and as a player he won seven times and drew once with Blauw-Zwart.
The selection: Mignolet, Horvath, Lammens, Sobol, Deli, Ricca, Mata, Mechele, Kossounou, De Cuyper, Schrijvers, Vanaken, Vormer, Rits, De Ketelaere, Van Den Keybus, Diatta, Badji, Dennis and Krmenčík.
CERCLE BRUGGE
Cercle scored 9 out of 18 in recent weeks after defeats against Standard (1-0), KV Kortrijk (0-1) and Anderlecht (2-0) and wins against Antwerp (2-1), KV Mechelen (2-3) and STVV (3-0). In the off-season, coach Bernd Storck opted for a new challenge at Slovak first division club FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda and the 48-year-old Englishman Paul Clement was appointed as his replacement. Several players also left Green-Black including Moser (back to Union Berlin), Peeters (KAS Eupen), Donsah (back to FC Bologna), Biancone (back to AS Monaco), Panzo (back to AS Monaco), Foster (back to AS Monaco), Chatziisaias (back to Çaykur Rizespor), Dabila (back to Lille, now loaned to Mouscron), Saadi (back to RC Strasbourg) and De Belder (end of contract). The Association reinforced with Didillon (Anderlecht), Raux-Yao (AJ Auxerre), Corryn (KV Mechelen), Marcelin (on loan from AS Monaco), Kanouté (on loan from AS Monaco), Musaba (on loan from Monaco) and Da Silva (Hull City).
The selection: Didillon, Warleson, Goblet, Vitinho, Taravel, Ueda, Decostere, Raux-Yao, Velkovski, Marcelin, Vanhoutte, Hoggas, Dekuyper, Da Silva, Koshi, Kanouté, Hazard, Hotic, Musaba, Ugbo and Somers.
REFEREE - LAWRENCE VISSER
Lawrence Visser is in charge of the Bruges city derby. He is assisted by linesmen Thibaud Nijssen and Ruben Wyns, fourth official is Frederik Geldhof. The video referee is Jan Boterberg.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
CLUB BRUGGE - CHARLES DE KETELAERE
A year ago, Charles De Ketelaere made his debut in Bruges' main match during the cup game against Francs Borains. The 19-year-old Bruges player who was trained at the Club Academy made tremendous progress and can look back on a strong season. In the Champions League matches against PSG and Galatasaray, he played with guts and contributed his part to the strong collective performance at the Champions League. A few weeks ago, the talented midfielder played for the first time with the Belgian U21 and thanks in part to his goal, the young Red Devils won convincingly against Germany (4-1). Last week he was also decisive with his first league goal of the season against Zulte Waregem.
