Pushing the accelerator twice, that turned out to be enough for Cercle Brugge to knock Beerschot out of the cup. The home team did let the visitors get back into the game after a dream start and even come alongside, but with two goals shortly after the break Cercle pulled the sheet back to itself.
Goals:
- 4′ Denkey 1-0
- 44′ Verlinden 1-1
- 48′ Ueda 2-1
- 51′ Denkey 3-1
Cercle Brugge – Beerschot in a nutshell:
- Key moment: Cercle starts with three fresh forces in the second half and that immediately provides a quality injection. Ueda doesn’t need a run-in time and hits the mark on his first ball touches. Less than five minutes later, Denkey decides the game with his second of the evening.
- Man of the match: In the league he was unable to score in the past 4 games, but tonight Kévin Denkey found his way to goal again. Twice even and with that the Togolese had an important share in the qualification of Cercle Brugge.
- Remarkable: Beerschot has had little pleasure in the confrontations with Cercle Brugge in recent years. Last season it stayed behind the association in 1A with 0 out of 6 and the year before it could only draw one point from the mutual duels.
Cercle hands over match after dream start
With four wins in its last five games, Cercle Brugge had the momentum on its side and the association continued that line against Beerschot. At the first full-fledged attack after barely 4 minutes it was already hit. From a sharp angle, Denkey gave the home team a dream start.
Cercle therefore rose early, but instead of pushing through, the association let itself be lulled to sleep. Beerschot fought his way back into the game, thanks to Thibo and Thibaud. Baeten and Verlinden were the stars in the first half, but their actions initially yielded nothing.
Until shortly before half-time, the visitors succeeded. Verlinden, son of ex-goalkeeper Dany, made a great individual move and placed the ball out of Warleson’s reach: 1-1.
Quality injection of Muslic makes the difference
It inspired Cercle coach Miron Muslic to make a triple substitution during halftime. The input of Ueda, Hotic and Velkovsky immediately provided a quality injection. Cercle repeated its blitz start from the first half and even went a step further, with two goals in less than five minutes.
Ueda immediately cashed in on his first ball keys with a shot across the corner, goalkeeper Lathouwers had no story. Shortly after, the ball got caught in front of goal after a corner from that other substitute, Hotic, and Denkey worked in his second of the evening from close range: 3-1.
Cercle now kept control, but Beerschot’s breath was cut off after the double blow. Just like last season, Cercle advances to the 1/8th finals of the cup, Beerschot can fully concentrate on returning to 1A.
