Racing Genk has digested the departure of Onuachu well, his replacement Arokodare already scoring | Belgian football

At the Buffalos, Malick Fofana, 17, replaced Ibrahim Salah, who left for Rennes and after several weeks with a four-man defense, Hein Vanhaezebrouck opted for a trio with Kamil Piatkowski on the right side. In Genk, Wouter Vrancken established Aly Samatta to compensate for the departure of his striker Paul Onuachu and aligned a new defensive axis with Mark McKenzie and Carlos Cuesta. The duo could not prevent Hong from opening the scoring on a ball back from Hugo Cuypers (9th, 1-0). While the Limburgers had been laborious, Patrik Hrosovsky made a filtering pass at Paintsil. After avoiding an intervention from Paul Nardi, the Ghanaian striker scored his tenth goal of the season by placing the ball between the legs of Jordan Torunarigha folded in front of the goal line (23rd, 1-1).

Returning from the locker room, the Buffalos appeared more determined but Fofana’s volley was too central to deceive Maarten Vandevoordt (46th). Little worried, the leaders took the lead and without a reflex save from Nardi, Daniel Munoz would have given them the lead (62nd). Shortly after, the Limburg coach released Bilal El Khanonous and Samatta to launch his Nigerian duo Sor and newcomer Toluwalase Arokodare (65th). The two substitutes were directly involved in a victorious action: on a pass from Arokodare, Trésor crossed for Sor whose resumption of the header froze Nardi (67th, 1-2). After being at the base of the second goal, the striker from Amiens sharply punctuated a combination launched by Angelo Preciado, who had put three defenders in the wind (86th1-3). It was not a decisive blow since Depoitre made the final exciting by taking advantage of a poor exit from the opposing goalkeeper (88th, 2-3).