On the fifth matchday in the Jupiler Pro League, Cercle Brugge failed to take any points back from Genk. Heynen was the man for the hosts, scoring with a penalty and a header goal. Deman equalized just after the break, but Cercle didn't have enough left to come back after going down 2-1.
Cercle started the match brightly, but the Genkies still had the best chances. Cuesta headed a corner close to Majecki's goal and then a goal by Munoz was disallowed for offside - again at a corner. Vanhoutte and Hotic both tried their luck from a distance, but they couldn't get their shots on target. At times Genk played strong combination football with Trésor and El Khannouss as playmakers, but it was Heynen who broke the deadlock, as he headed home on a cross from Trésor. 1-0 was the score at halftime.
Just as in the first half, Cercle took the upper hand in the second part of the match and were immediately rewarded with a goal. After an acceleration by Vanhoutte, the ball came to Denkey, who used the space cleverly and found Deman. The academy product did not hesitate and struck his effort hard to make it 1-1. After Torres brought down Paintsil in the box and the VAR awarded a penalty, Heynen restored the hosts' lead from the spot. Genk were able to counterattack for the rest of the match, but Onuachu and Paintsil, among others, were unable to score a third goal. An attempt by the energetic Denkey was the best that the Groen-Zwart could do. Cercle returned to Bruges without a point from this encounter.
