No Hein Vanhaezebrouck in the hole tomorrow night. The coach is serving a suspension for his public criticism of Nathan Verboomen.
“It’s a pity that I can’t be there. The facts go back to April and the commentary – after the Belgian – follows a few months later. That’s what it is,” Vanheysbroek said.
Tomorrow’s opponent, Standard, has had a fairly quiet transition period so far. Of course the team got a new coach: Ronnie Della.
How does Vanhaezebrouck see the opening match?
“I’m expecting a tough game. We’ve seen a number of Standard exhibition matches, but it’s still hard to appreciate the first game of the season.”
It’s been 10 years since the KAA Gent once again won the inaugural match, although that’s not an important statistic for Vanhaisbrück.
“As a club we became champions of Belgium once and I remember we played a dragon in the opening match against Cercle Brugge.”
“It was so bad that we might still have to make up for it. But in the end we were champions.”
“The opening match is always tough. Ghent’s results in the past 10 years are a perfect example of that. A lot of things always happen. It’s a fresh start for everyone and you often see crazy results,” Vanheisbroek concludes.
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