Conference LeagueMark van Bommel has booked his sixth win in a row with Royal Antwerp FC. In the Bosuilstadion in Antwerp, his team settled 2-0 tonight in the preliminary round of the Conference League with Lillestrøm SK. Antwerp will now face Istanbul Basaksehir in the play-offs.
Royal Antwerp FC is already leading the Belgian Jupiler Pro League after three victories in the first three competition matches, and is therefore well on its way to the group stage of the UEFA Conference League. After the 1-3 victory in Norway last week, Antwerp won 2-0 tonight in front of its own audience. Anthony Valencia took care of the 1-0 after eleven minutes, which actually put an end to the last doubts. Birger Verstraete made it 2-0 in the 69th minute.
Vincent Janssen came in for Michael Frey after 59 minutes tonight. The strong striker from Switzerland was already preferred in the first three competition matches, but was also allowed to start in the base for the first time in a European context tonight. Janssen was in the starting line-up against FC Drita (0-0 at home, 0-2 out) and last week in Norway, but did not score in those matches. In the competition, Janssen always came in for Frey around the 70th minute in the first three games, but the 28-year-old striker from Heesch did not score yet. Janssen was allowed to come in tonight after an hour and showed himself eager in the wrong way. He pushed defender Colin Rösler over unnecessarily and immediately received a yellow card.
Royal Antwerp has to deal with Istanbul Basaksehir, which finished fourth in the Turkish Super Lig last season, for a place in the group stage of the Conference League. Lucas Biglia, Nacer Chadli, Mesut Özil and Deniz Türüç are well-known names in the team of 41-year-old trainer Emre Belözoğlu. His team convincingly dealt with Breidablik in this round: 1-3 in Iceland and tonight 3-0 in Turkey.
Anderlecht and Lech Poznan also round further
Anderlecht also have to get through another round to reach the group stage of the third European tournament. The team of coach Felice Mazzu was also too strong for Paide Linnameeskond on their own field. After the 0-2 in Estonia it now became 3-0. Wesley Hoedt had a starting place in the team for which the Panamanian Michael Murillo scored twice. The opponent in the play-offs is the Swiss Young Boys, which eliminated the Finnish KuPS.
John van den Brom is still waiting for his first league win with Lech Poznan after three games, but in Europe things are going a lot better with the former trainer of ADO Den Haag, Vitesse, AZ and FC Utrecht. The Polish top club put things in order against Vikingur Reykjavik after extra time and qualified for the play-offs for the Conference League. Lech Poznan will compete against Malmö FF. The Swedish top club, where Ola Toivonen plays, eliminated F91 Dudelange in Luxembourg earlier in the evening.
Other matches in the Conference League play-offs (18 and 25 August):
Fiorentina – FC Twente
West Ham United – Viborg FF
Villarreal – Hajduk Split
1. FC Cologne – Fehervar FC
APOEL Nicosia – Djurgårdens IF
Free unlimited access to Showbytes? Which can!
Log in or create an account and don’t miss out on any of the stars.