As expected, Wouter Vrancken stuck to the starting eleven and field line-up from last Monday, and KRC Genk also started with a look ahead. It resulted in a free kick within two minutes in a very attractive spot, but El Khannouss hit the buttocks of… Ait El Hadj.
Dominant Genk
The visitors continued to have the easiest time finding the free man, an opening from the dribbling Cuesta led to an excellent shooting opportunity for Ait El Hadj. Lammens, who replaces the injured Butez for the rest of these play-offs, appropriately reduced his corner.
Antwerp could hardly counter that, although the visitors managed to get away once, when a header from Alderweireld hit the body of teammate Janssen. For the rest, Genk dictated the law with good positional play and neat football. Initially there was only a goal on a corner kick, which Sadick was unable to get into the net. Arokodare tried again with a technically high-quality number, in most of the other threatening phases the crosses of an active but not very precise El Ouahdi did not find a recipient.
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Gem of Ait El Hajj
The reward followed just before half time. A wonderful ball behind Hrosovsky’s supporting leg led to one of the most beautiful goals of the current season. Kayembe opened on the often vacant Ait El Hadj, who, à la De Bruyne, cut inside and delivered the most precise of all place balls. Lammens’ gliding flight only pleased the photographers, the ball crashed into the net via the crossbar: 0-1.
Genk went into halftime with a deserved lead, a statistic from Eleven DAZN was intended to illustrate that this could become very important. Racing turned out to be unbeaten for 47 games in a row in the games in which it led halfway.
© Isosport
El Khannouss and El Ouahdi leave 0-2
Antwerp coach Mark Van Bommel intervened during halftime. He brought forward Balikwisha for defender De Laet and moved playmaker Janssen to the striker in a 3-5-2. Initially it made little difference, a frivolous footballing Genk remained lord and master. But the Limburgers forgot to convert that dominance into goal chances. The most dangerous goal attempt was a clever place ball from Ondrejka, who tried to imitate Ait El Hadj, but found an athletic goalkeeper Vandevoordt in his way.
Antwerp did not create much more danger during a lackluster overtaking chase. On the other side, El Khannouss always had to finally close the match. With two against one, to the dismay of the accompanying Zeqiri, he opted for a place ball within Lammens’ reach. The tireless El Ouahdi actually missed an even bigger opportunity after a clever interception. Face to face with the Lammens, he shot straight at the home goalkeeper.
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Third place
However, the well-deserved away victory was never in jeopardy. KRC Genk gets off to a dream start in the Champions’ Play-offs with the second 1-0 in a row. For the time being, it is third and the gap with the two leaders is five points.
With two home matches (Cercle and Anderlecht) in prospect, this opens up perspectives. Especially if Genk can maintain this high level. Dreaming is allowed, don’t float…
ANTWERP:Lammens – Bataille, Van den Bosch, Alderweireld, De Laet – Ekkelenkamp, Yusuf – Ejuke, Janssen, Ondrejka – Ilenikhena
KRC GENK: Vandevoordt – Sadick, Cuesta, McKenzie – El Ouahdi, Galarza, Hrosovsky, Kayembe – El Khannouss, Ait El Hadj – Arokodare..
REPLACEMENTS: 46′ De Laet by Balikwisha, 60′ Ondrejka by Doumbia, 66′ Bataille by Coulibaly, 80′ Ilenikhena and Ekkelenkamp by Kerk and Matazo, 83′ Ait El Hadj by Zeqiri, 86′ El Khannouss by Sobol.
GOALS: 44′ Ait El Hadj 0-1.
YELLOW CARDS: 32′ Janssen (kick to the instep), 50′ Yusuf and El Khannouss (bump), 89′ Kerk (deliberate foul).
SPECTATORS: 14,000.
REFEREE: Lothar D’Hondt.
© BELGIUM
© Isosport
© BELGIUM
© Isosport
© BELGIUM
2024-04-06 20:50:49
#Gem #Ait #Hadj #KRC #Genk #fantastic #start #playoffs
