Hoefkens: “Have to give my players praise”
Club Brugge defeated Atlético Madrid 2-0 on Tuesday in a swirling Jan Breydel stadium on the third match day of group B in the Champions League, and thus retain the maximum of nine points.
“I think we knew in advance what we had to do, so I’m very satisfied with how my players performed their tasks,” said the T1 from Bruges. “We managed to make them suffer in the first half. In the second half it was a bit more difficult, they were going to play all or nothing. We had to remain aggressive in possession, but did a fantastic job today. kudos to my players.”
Club has the maximum of nine points and can hardly miss qualifying for the knockout phase. “But I live from game to game,” said Hoefkens. “Of course we have a goal and that is to qualify for the next round. We should not think about the distant future but about the near future, which is the next 90 minutes.”
Reactions Mignolet and Jutgla
“We’ve had some great games already, but this is a really special night,” said goalkeeper Simon Mignolet. “Everyone did their job, both offensively and defensively. It was difficult in the second half with their pressure. We were also a bit lucky with the missed penalty. I am very happy and it is also beautiful for Belgian football.”
Goal scorer Ferran Jutgla was also delighted. “It was a very special evening”, responded the 23-year-old Spaniard, who could call himself ‘Player of the Match’. “It’s a real opportunity for me to play the Champions League. Can we still miss qualifying now? We have to play every game and continue this line. It was special to score against a Spanish team anyway.”