KRC Genk – Malmo FF
Europa League
Thursday 29 January, at 9 p.m
KRC Genk Arena
TV: The match is broadcast on Disney +
Please note that this time the TV broadcast is not shown at Eric’s Bar & Restaurant.
Head coach Miguel Angel Ramirez ahead of the game of…
…Thursday’s match:
– It is a very important match for us. It’s games in Europe and it’s an opportunity for us to end this league game on a positive note. We represent Malmö FF and we represent a proud history so we want to show the supporters that we give everything. And as I said last week, it’s a great chance for me to see the players compete at a very high level.
…to start with young players:
– They work very hard and they show very, very nice things. Last week I started with the players who were most ready to go in and compete. Tomorrow it will be the same, I will send out the players I consider to be the most ready.
…the absence of several players in the back line:
– I try to see opportunities and not problems. So this will be a good chance to see other players and see how they react in this situation. The feedback we receive can be very important in the future.
…Genk’s offensive play:
– I like the way they play. They have an exciting structure that is constantly alive. They have great mobility with the ball and are constantly finding new positions. This allows them to overload certain surfaces and acquire numerical overlays. But at the same time, it can punish them defensively. If they lose the ball, they can be unstructured and then there can be spaces and opportunities for us.
…Genk’s defensive play:
– They defend very aggressively, they go in and mark man against man and have really good physicality.
Opponent check
Koninklijke Racing Club Genk was formed in 1988 through the merger of two local clubs: Waterschei SV Thor and KFC Winterslag. During the 1990s, Genk established itself in the Belgian top league and success soon followed. They have won the Belgian Pro League four times (1999, 2002, 2011 and 2019), also in the Belgian Cup they have several titles.
At European level, Genk have regularly qualified for the group stage in recent years. The biggest success came in the 2016/2017 season when they reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
The club is known for its successful academy and over the years it has produced several outstanding players. Including Kevin De Bruyne and Thibaut Courtois.
The season in Europe
Before the match against Malmö FF, you have the chance to reach the top 8 in the Europa League table, which directly gives you a place in the round of 16. They are currently in tenth place, one point behind Porto and on the same point as Crvena Zvezda (MFF’s last two opponents in the Europa League).
They qualified for the league play by knocking out Polish Lech Poznan with a total of 6–3 over two games. In the league game, there have been victories against Rangers (b), Braga (b), Basel (h) and Utrecht (b). There were crosses against Real Betis (h) and losses against FC Mittjylland (b) and Ferencvaros (h).
shapes
It has not gone as well in the domestic league as in the Europa League. They have not won a game in six rounds and are in a modest eleventh place in the table, only three points above the relegation zone.
The poor results meant that coach Thorsten Fink was fired just before Christmas. Instead Nicky Hayen came in who in turn had been sacked by Club Brugge a few weeks earlier.
Player
According to the website Transfermarkt, KRC Genk’s squad has a value of 144 million euros, which corresponds to approximately 1.5 billion Swedish kronor. By comparison, Malmö FF has a squad value of SEK 420 million, according to the same site.
The highest valued player in the squad is Konstantinos Karetsas who is valued by Transfermarkt at 28 million euros (about 295 million Swedish kronor).
There is an Allsvensian acquaintance in KRC Genk’s squad, namely striker Jusef Erabi, who came to the club last summer from Hammarby. Since his arrival, he has played 18 games and scored one goal.
Latest starting eleven
1–1 at home against Cercle Brugge in the Belgian league.
Tobias Oki Bawaal – Mujaid Shadick, Matte Methans, Zacacaia El Ouhni – Brrowy Heyen,
Previous meetings
Malmö FF and Genk were drawn into the same group during the Europa League group stage in the 2018/2019 season. Genk won the first match at home 2–0. Even in the away match in Malmö, they went up to a 2–0 lead, but in the 65th and 67th minutes of the match, Oscar Lewicki and Marcus Antonsson were able to reduce and equalize.
When the group was summed up, it was Genk and Malmö FF who seized the first two places (in front of Besiktas and Sarpsborg) and went on to further games in Europe.
The match is played here
Cegeka Arena, or KRC Genk Arena as it is called at the European Games, was inaugurated in 1990, but was completely rebuilt in 1999 when the foundation for the arena it is today was laid. The audience capacity is 23,718 spectators at league matches, at the European Games it is 20,040. For the match against Malmö FF, just over 12,000 tickets have been sold.
Cegeka Arena has had several names over the years. In the early years it was called the Thyl Gheyselinck Stadium – named after a club profile. After the major reconstruction, it was named Fenixstadion – a symbol of the club’s “resurrection” after the merger.
