Dender will host Club Brugge this weekend in an important home match. For attacker Bruny Nsimba, the match takes on special significance, partly due to the presence of Ivan Leko, who played a role in his first steps in Belgian top football.
First victory and battle for preservation
Nsimba wore the captain’s armband in the absence of Kobe Cools and has taken the lead in recent weeks. It took fifteen match days before Dender achieved its first victory. “That should and certainly could have happened much earlier,” he says in Primo.
The team already deserved to get the three points a few times, but because the chances were expertly suppressed, the victory did not yet come. “All the pieces fell into place in Antwerp. That victory did not come out of the blue. We had been in good shape for a few weeks.”
The attacker emphasized that the team continued to work despite the difficult start. “That is sometimes difficult, yes. Which is logical. It is then a matter of continuing to work hard and pushing yourself every day to perform at least as well. Ultimately, sooner or later, you will be rewarded for that.”
The calendar still shows a nice number of competitions. Nsimba believes that there is no reason to panic, as long as it is mathematically possible to enforce retention in the Jupiler Pro League.
Special link with Leko
For Nsimba, the confrontation with Club Brugge takes on an extra dimension. He made his debut in 2020 at Antwerp under Ivan Leko. “The then Antwerp coach Ivan Leko indeed gave me my first playing minutes in the Belgian Cup final against Club Brugge,” he continues.
Read also… Can Dender make progress and confirm this against Club Brugge on Sunday?›
It was played on August 1 without supporters in the King Baudouin Stadium in the height of corona. “We won 0-1, so I immediately won a trophy with my first appearance. I gave my cup to my mother as a souvenir for everything she has done and still does for me,” he concludes.
That experience forms a lasting memory and gives the current competition a personal charge. Nsimba links his motivation to the fighting spirit that he also symbolically carries with the lion tattoo on his arm.
