Party for Vincent Kompany and Ian Maatsen: Burnley returns to Premier League after dream year | Foreign football

Burnley won 1-2 tonight at Middlesbrough, the number four in the Championship. After the game, the promotion was immediately conducted with the 2500 fans from Burnley who traveled along. No club has ever been promoted to the Premier League with seven games remaining in the Championship.

Ashley Barnes put Burnley ahead and Chuba Akpom equalized for Boro from a penalty in the 48th minute. Connor Roberts scored the winning goal midway through the second half from a cross from Nathan Tella.

Earlier in the day, number three Luton Town drew 0-0 at Millwall, which means promotion is already a fact for Burnley after 39 of the 46 games. Sheffield United seems to be the second promotion candidate, eleven points behind leader Burnley and eight points ahead of number three Luton Town. Sheffield United will visit Burnley on Monday evening (9 p.m.) on Easter Monday, where the promotion will already be celebrated exuberantly.

Burnley have lost just two of their 39 league games in the Championship this season. Kompany’s team won 25 times and drew twelve times in the way to promotion. After the World Cup, Burnley only dropped six points in fourteen games due to three draws.

Ian Maatsen again participated in the entire game tonight. The 21-year-old left back from Vlaardingen, who is rented from Chelsea, has played in 33 of the 39 league matches so far. Maatsen will most likely participate in the European Championship next summer with the Dutch Juniors. His contract with Chelsea expires in 2024. He will therefore probably be sold next summer or his contract will be extended in London. Wout Weghorst, who has been loaned out to Manchester United since January, is still under contract with Burnley until mid-2025.

Burnley were relegated from the Premier League last year after six seasons, after the club from Lancashire (just northwest of Manchester) had already played in the top tier of England in the 2009/2010 and 2014/2015 seasons. Sean Dyche even reached European football with Burnley in 2018 by finishing seventh in the Premier League, but was fired at the end of last season.

After the relegation, the American owners chose Vincent Kompany for a trainer who was going to approach it with a completely different style of play. Kompany finished third with Anderlecht in the past three seasons, but only really proved this season that he is a trainer that we will hear a lot from. With an almost completely new selection, he impressed early in the season with attractive good positional play on the ground, often resulting in more than 70 percent possession of the ball and just as important: in many victories.

Kompany also had the chance to impress in the FA Cup last month, but in the quarter-finals his teacher Pep Guardiola proved far too strong with Manchester City. It became 6-0, thanks in part to a hat-trick by Erling Haaland. Craig Bellamy is Kompany’s assistant, and he took Jelle ten Rouwelaar with him from Brussels as a goalkeeper coach.