Club Brugge Leuven smoothly advances to the Cup semi-finals

Philip Clement decided not to leave anything to chance in the cup quarter-finals. He chose his strongest lineup, with Former at the base. Last week, Club Brugge beat the Leuven striker 1-4 in the competition. Clement had put together two scenarios beforehand, and it soon became apparent that he had a plan for “How do I break up defensive Leuven?” can provoke. The inhabitants of Leuven allowed Bruges to be patient, waiting for the space to erupt. The visitors’ first chance came at such a crucial moment when former Mercier Brugesling Vlietinck sent a fine pass diagonally past Mignolet. Fletick was not selfish and played with Kappa. The striker, who was a scourge for the defense throughout the match, shot far from Mignolet’s body. Brugge’s efficiency There were no such chances in Brugge for a long time in the first half and the fans quickly made the decisions of referee Van Derech about it. Grain, although whistling is a beautiful game. Five minutes before the end of the first half there was the first real chance and it resulted in a goal. A man in de Kettler’s form honored his 100th game with the Blues and the Blacks with a header after Mata’s pass. Although the VAR took a long time to decide it was not offside. The club can rest with qualification in their pocket. In stoppage time, Ballanta missed the double lead on goal after goalkeeper Ronarson was let down. Efficiency was the key word. Sunday’s derby Despite the double deficit, Leuven does not appear to be in a hurry to leave his defensive position. Oddly enough, this approach paid off, because in the hour it was 2-1 suddenly when Mercier kicked from outside the rectangle. The ignition was short-lived thanks to De Ketelaere again. Under his pressure, Ozkakar choked on the ball and then introduced Lange into an inner layer. Mission accomplished, last half hour was just statistics. Hans Vanaken made it 4-1 in the final score with a superb free kick. The house crowd, who showed up in great numbers at such a late hour in the middle of the week, already fancied themselves in the spirit of Christmas and even ventured into a version of ‘Last Christmas’ by Wham! After Christmas, there will be one last mission in the Bruges derby on Sunday, without an audience attending to sing Christmas carols. Club Brugge lineup: Mignolet, Sobol (89 minutes Rica), Michel, Hendry, Mata (89 van der Prempt), Ballanta (63 Mbamba), Reets, Vanaken, Former (73 minutes), Lange (89 minutes) Dost, De Ketelaere.Setup Leuven: Runarsson, Ozkacar, Dewaest, Chakla, De Norre, Maertens (81′ Sekidika), Malinov (73′ Keita), Vlietinck (27′ Shengelia), Mercier, Schrijvers (81′ De Sart), Kaba Yellow cards : 21′ Mechele, 36′ Malinov, 57′ Balanta. Red Cards: /Goals: 40′ 1-0 De Ketelaere, 45+5′ 2-0 Balanta, 58′ 2-1 Mercier, 64′ 3-1 tall, 91′ 4-1 Vanaken.