Club and Cercle made it an enjoyable spectacle in the always charged derby. The fact that no goals had been scored at half time was due to the lack of efficiency on the part of Club and Cercle goalkeeper Warleson, who performed particularly well and kept Andreas Skov Olsen and Bjorn Meier from scoring the opening goal with great saves. Not that Cercle had to suffer much. On the other side, a ball from top scorer Kévin Denkey hit the post.
Even after the break, both teams went all out. Igor Thiago, who had replaced Skov Olsen who was injured just before half-time, was the first to put his nose to the window, on the hour mark Ferran Jutgla should have done better in front of goal with a cross from Tajon Buchanan. Moments earlier, Club had escaped a goal when an excellent intervention by goalkeeper Simon Mignolet was needed to keep Yann Ghobo’s shot out of goal.
In the last quarter of the match, Cercle mainly aimed for the counter and the blue and black showed a lack of scoring ability several times. Jutgla in particular left some excellent opportunities unused. Meier also couldn’t get past Warleson deep into the added time.
Club Brugge was able to win exactly one of its last eight league matches. Two weeks ago, national champion Antwerp was narrowly defeated 2-1 by Jan Breydel. With 7 out of 24, Club has dropped to seventh place and it is important to be careful not to lose touch with the top six.
Cercle is in an unexpected fifth place with two points more than its fellow city rivals.