Anderlecht lost 0-1 to FC Bruges in the Topper of the 12th day of the Belgian football championship, Sunday at Lotto Park. After this 6th defeat of the season, Felice Mazzu’s troops find themselves 9th in the standings with 16 points, 6 units from the top 4. The people of Bruges are 3rd with 25 points, behind Genk (31 pts) and Antwerp (30 pts) and ahead of Standard (22 pts).
Beaten by West Ham on Thursday in the Conference League, Anderlecht started the game with Wesley Hoedt, back in defense, and Lucas Stassin and Mario Stroeykens in the base eleven. On the Bruges side, Carl Hoefkens renewed the team which went to win qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League on Tuesday after the draw at Atletico Madrid (0-0).
The two teams created several chances early in the game, via Jutgla, Buchanan and Sowah for Bruges, while in the purple ranks, Fabio Silva was restless during the first 20 minutes.
For his first start, Lucas Stassin, 17, came close to opening the scoring in the 24th minute, but his sending was denied by the Bruges post.
In the second half, it took a dive from Van Crombrugge to prevent Jutgla from placing the Gazelles in control on the first shot on target from Bruges (58th). Two minutes later, it was Mignolet who saved his team on a sending from Arnstad. Van Crombrugge then had to leave in front of Skov Olsen (67th) to keep his net clean. Not for a long time. In the 69th minute, Vanaken fell behind for Nielsen, who placed the Gazelles in control (0-1).
Somewhat groggy after the opener, Anderlecht reacted in the last 20 minutes. Coming on to replace Stassin on the hour mark, Lior Refaelov saw his whim saved by a reflex save from Mignolet. The Bruges goalkeeper saved his team again in front of Fabio Silva in the 89th minute of a match that the Gazelles finished at ten. Sylla received a red card in stoppage time for a tackle with his feet forward on Stroyekens.
Relive the highlights of the meeting:
