Cercle wins goal festival at Westerlo

Cercle did not miss his start. Thibo Somers was able to score the 0-1 after five minutes. After that, Cercle retains the predominance and it becomes dangerous a number of times. After eighteen minutes, Ueda gets the chance to double the lead from the spot. Marcelin is brought down incorrectly by Reynolds, Ueda does not fail and brings his team to 0-2.

Westerlo does try to respond, but Cercle secures the Ruffs well. The team from Bruges pile up the chances, but they fail to score. On the other side Van Eenoo is standing at the cannon. Majecki can still parry his shot, but has no recourse when Nene works the ball in on rebound. Five minutes from half time we have another game.

But that is excluding Da Silva. The midfielder of Cercle Brugge hits from the second line and outwits Bolat beautifully. 1-3 just before half time. And then it’s not done yet. Just before half-time, the ball hits the spot again when Deman takes a hit in the box. The VAR is still looking at it, but ref Visser is right. Ueda again keeps a cool head and puts Cercle on roses with the 1-4.

Another spectacle in the second half

In the second half, Westerlo takes a different tack. On the counter they try to make it difficult for Cercle, and that works. Ten minutes into the second half Nene works his second against the ropes. But again Cercle makes short work of the yellow shirts. After a nice attack, it is Thibo Somers who makes it 2-5. A few minutes later, Da Silva also almost scores his second of the afternoon, but the Portuguese shoots high over.

The final chord is for Nene. The Westerlo striker had an excellent afternoon and completed his hat-trick with a long shot. However, Cercle does not get into trouble anymore and wins 3-5. It starts the Europe Play-Offs with a nice 4/6 and follows 5 points behind leader Gent. Now two crucial games against the Buffalos follow.