Beerschot and Anderlecht both have purple and white as club colours. Tuesday evening the contrast between the two could not be greater. The Brussels white showed the Antwerp purple all corners of the Olympic Stadium: 0-7. The biggest win in the Jupiler Pro League this season.
We admit: we also had our reservations. Sergio Gomez, seen in the youth academy of Barcelona as the successor of Andres Iniesta, on the left back: was that a good idea? Twenty-one matchdays later we have to agree with Vincent Kompany. Gomez is one of the absolute revelations in the Jupiler Pro League. The Catalan also divided and ruled against Beerschot. Even from the left rear.
Moreover, on Tuesday evening at the Kiel, Gomez was barely put in the way. The space that Beerschot gave Anderlecht hurt the eyes. The home side scored the first chance of the game after just five minutes – a shot from Noubissi from the second line. But that was it. Afterwards it was Anderlecht that struck the clock.
The 0-1 after eight minutes was vintage purple and white. After keeping the ball well in the team on the right, Verschaeren shifted the game with a great cross pass to the left. There, Gomez set up a good one-two with Refaelov – the two find each other better and better – and then offered Verschaeren the 0-1 with a measured cross. An attack from the book.
Ten minutes later, Verschaeren made the nets vibrate again. Again, Anderlecht were helped by Beerschot. After a sloppiness in his own sixteen, Lemos simply played the ball into Gomez’s feet. Not a good idea. Once again the Spaniard found his buddy Verschaeren in front of goal. The game had already been played.
Anderlecht kept on combining to their heart’s content, without pressing the accelerator too hard. When the Purple & White did switch up a gear, the Beerschot almost always hurt. Ten minutes before half time, Zirkzee also showed himself with a class flash. The Dutchman turned wonderfully away from his two guards in midfield and then found Refaelov on the left. The old age blanket offered the 0-3 to Zirkzee, who had now passed through.
Rood Holzhauser
On the stroke of half-time, Kouamé also seemed to be on his way to take his goal, after a good deep pass from Gomez – who else? At the edge of the sixteen, Holzauser, who in the meantime had started playing as central defender, hung on the emergency brake. The Austrian was allowed to take a shower. Beerschot waited a long second half.
The comfortable lead and the man-more situation were the signal for Kompany to allow a number of boys to play minutes. Ashimeru and Mykhalichenko replaced Olsson and Murillo after the break. While half the press gallery was still busy recording those replacements in the accounts, Anderlecht struck again. Verschaeren was allowed to walk through the center of Antwerp far too smoothly. Via Zirkzee he worked the ball to Refaelov, who simply pushed the ball past Vanhamel.
Amuzu and Raman also got a good half hour from Kompany. And the latter also took his goal. First the ex-Beerschot striker gave a good cross. After Zirkzee’s shot that followed was blocked, he scored the 0-5 himself. Raman apologized… for an empty Olympic Stadium.
The second set
However, five minutes later, Boem Boem Benito struck again. After a combination through the center, the ball ended up at Raman’s feet. His shot deviated and bumped past Vanhamel: 0-6. “We can start the second set”, a Beerschot employee muttered in the stands.
Couldn’t be more painful, did you think? Another five minutes later, Vanhamel proved otherwise. Amuzu entered from the left. Beerschot’s goalkeeper let his shot slip through his legs. “Flycatcher, flycatcher”, chanted the Beerschot fans who had gathered outside the stadium.
In the end, 0-7 also became the final score. The biggest win in the Jupiler Pro League this season. Anderlecht enter the winter break with a sixteen out of eighteen and can call themselves the big winner of the extended weekend after the defeats of Club Brugge and Charleroi. Beerschot seems like a bird to the cat.
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