On Sunday afternoon, nothing less than a derby of the highest class was on the menu. The Jan Breydel Stadium was bouncing before the arrival of our neighbours. Muslic did not tinker with his team and stuck to the same eleven that has remained unbeaten over their last three games.
An excellent Cercle fails to knock off Club: 2-2
The first initiative came from the home team. A sloppy play from Onyedika gave the ball right to Deman, who found Somers. The ball then came to Siquet, who saw his cross shot blocked. That was the start of an extremely wild start to the match as Cercle forced four corners within four minutes. Shortly afterwards, several free kicks from Siquet created several chances, and a deflected shot from Denkey forced Mignolet into a fine save.
Not much later, Cercle was able to recover the ball high again, and Ueda’s shot on the turn found the side netting. The match had only been going on for just more than fifteen minutes. Club's first significant (re)action immediately gave the visitors the lead: Jutgla sprung the offside trap and found the unmarked Lang to make it 0-1. Cercle didn't seem unsettled and kept pushing: Ueda looked to set up Somers for the equaliser, but the Belgian had to finish from an angle that was too sharp. Less than ten minutes later, Siquet again found him alone in front of goal, but Mignolet was again not surprised. To close the first half, Siquet passed to fellow wingback Deman, but the Belgian youth international couldn't keep his shot low enough. So Club went into the break with an absolutely undeserved lead, while Cercle had been much more aggressive and brought the best combinations to the pitch.
The Groen-Zwart just continued that battle in the second half, and after a few minutes they were rewarded: Somers, running deep on the right, played in Denkey who waited a moment and then without a doubt put the ball into the far corner: 1-1. After the equaliser, Club were unable to turn the tide. Odoi narrowly escaped being sent off after a crunching tackle on Siquet and a fantastic save from Mignolet on a header by Daland made the visitors even more nervous. But the visitors did not need many chances: Buchanan found Nielsen at the edge of the area, after which the Dane found the top corner: 1-2. Cercle had to chase the game again, but again there was no letup in their pressing.
First Somers shot from free kick with his weaker left foot into the hands of Mignolet, but a little later the man of the match would be rewarded as Somers was finally able to outwit Mignolet, with a headed finish. Five minutes before time, Club had no answer to Cercle’s high press: hesitation by the central defenders first allowed Kehrer to put in a cross and in the same phase Somers took his chance. Mignolet kept Club level, although he was relieved that Kehrer couldn’t find a winner just thereafter. The points were thus shared, and Club in particular could be happy with that. The Association hounded its “big brother” throughout and had the best chances to win.
Cercle Brugge: 1. Majecki, 4. Daland, 5. Popovic, 9. Denkey (28. Van der Bruggen 83’), 14. Vanhoutte(10. Hotic 79’), 17. Francis, 23. Deman, 34. Somers (8. Decostere 79’), 36. Ueda, 41. Siquet (7. Kehrer 79’), 66. Ravych
Club Brugge: 22. Mignolet, 5. Hendry, 6. Odoi, 9. Jutgla, (70. Yaremchuk 81’) 10. Lang, 14. Meijer, 15. Onyedika (19. Sowah 66’) , 17. Buchanan (32. Nusa 81') 20. Vanaken, 27. Nielsen, 94. Sylla (44. Mechele 66’)
