Club Bruges left the Philips Stadion with a Champions League-phase victory on Wednesday night, a hard-earned result that lifted the Belgian champions to nine points from four matches and prompted reactions from their leading scorer, goalkeeper and a former club executive, DHnet reported.
The night’s decisive moments came from both ends of the pitch: Christos Tresoldi opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a header from Joaquin Seys’ cross, PSV’s Sano drew the hosts level at 55, and Carlos Forbs settled it at 66 after beating goalkeeper Kovar, according to RTBF’s match report.
Tresoldi’s fifth: “Who has six goals?”
Tresoldi, who scored the opener, told DHnet the match was a struggle. “It was a difficult match,” he said. “We suffered a lot. A bit like against Inter. We are a young team and we take a step every year.”
The goal was his fifth of the Champions League season and his first headed goal of the year, struck from a cross by Seys. “It was a great cross from Joaquin,” Tresoldi said. “I have that feeling in the big box — I think it’s my biggest quality.”
He remains second in the competition’s scoring race, though, because Anastasios Douvikas scored a hat-trick for Como against Lens the same night, taking the Greek to six goals. Tresoldi noticed the gap and joked about it. “Who has six goals?” he asked, still smiling, per DHnet. “I was very happy to score. It’s my second season in the Champions League. I’m enjoying it. Last year I scored three goals and now five. Step by step. I want to score as many as possible.”
🇭🇷🔵 Ivan Leko's Club Brugge secured their third win of this season's Champions League, beating PSV 2-1 away from home. Nicolo Tresoldi and Carlos Forbs scored for Club Brugge, while Ivan Perišić started for PSV. pic.twitter.com/9Z7mAk3icx
Sommer on an open match and saves “at crucial moments”
Goalkeeper Yann Sommer was also busy at the other end, and the Swiss international told DHnet the game never settled into a one-sided affair. “It was an open match,” he said. “There were chances on both sides. In the end, you need a bit of luck too. It’s my job to make saves, but yes, I’m sure I’m happy to have made interventions at crucial moments.”
RTBF’s report backs that up: PSV’s Dest found space in behind early and forced Sommer into a winning duel, while Perisic and Van Bommel troubled the Bruges flanks without being decisive. Bruges, meanwhile, defended deep and looked to strike on the counter, with Lemaréchal hitting the crossbar from a deflected shot and later choosing a pass instead of shooting from close range.
Mannaert: “Qualification is already assured”
Vincent Mannaert, the former CEO of Club Bruges who now runs the Belgian Football Association, was in Eindhoven and told VTM, as relayed by DHnet, that he had planned to be there anyway — a coaches’ team-building meeting had been moved to coincide with the match. He was proud of his former club. “We always hope a Belgian club does well in Europe, and it’s obviously a good thing for Belgian football as a whole,” he said. “The Club’s internationals also played well, so we obviously watched them too. All in all, it’s a deserved win. If you can win at Inter and beat PSV, you tell yourself the Club is capable of more. We can already say qualification is assured. The Club showed it fears no one.”
Nine points from 12, and the form behind it
The victory was Bruges’ third in a row in the competition, following a 3-4 win at Inter Milan and a 3-0 home win over Lens, per Moustique. Sudinfo noted the Belgian champions had won eight straight matches in all competitions, with their only league-phase defeat coming on Sept. 8 against Aston Villa. Before Wednesday, Bruges sat 11th with six points from nine; PSV were 18th with four points, two behind, according to Sudinfo. With the win, RTBF reports, Bruges move to nine points from 12 and can approach the second half of the league phase with confidence.
🇧🇪 Club Brugge won 2–1 at 🇳🇱 PSV in the 🔵 Champions League, and are now almost certain to reach the knockout stage, while PSV are still more likely than not to go through but with far less room for error. 🇳🇱 PSV Top 16: 17.5% (−21.3) Top 24: 57.2% (−18.1) Last 12: 42.8%… pic.twitter.com/89TZ7iNXq4
Forbs, who scored the winner, had earlier squandered chances, a pattern DHnet noted before he finally converted against Kovar in the 66th minute.
Bosz highlights Vanaken’s unusual role
PSV coach Peter Bosz had sized up the visitors before the match, telling Lalibre his side would not pick a favorite: “I don’t deal with that. I just want to win and we’ll see at the end who was best. You always have to want to win.” He singled out two Bruges players. “Vanaken is a good player. It surprises me he still plays at Bruges. It’s atypical for such a tall player to be the playmaker — usually smaller players occupy that role,” he said. “Forbs has found his feet. They fully use his qualities. That’s the kind of thing that can make the difference.”
The race still open after matchday four
With nine points from 12, Bruges can advance serenely toward the second part of the league phase, and Mannaert said qualification is already assured. But the league phase runs to eight matchdays, and PSV — despite the defeat — remain within two points of the Belgian side’s pre-match tally, so the standings picture can still shift. The open question now is whether Bruges can keep their scoring momentum going: Tresoldi has five goals and wants “as many as possible,” but Douvikas’ six set the target he is chasing.
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