Club Brugge given lesson in football by PSG
Club Brugge have suffered their worst ever home defeat in the UEFA Champions League. The team that currently is at the top of the Belgian First Division was beaten 0-5 by the French Champions Paris Saint-Germain in Bruges on Tuesday evening. Despite Club Brugge having played an encouraging first half, the PSG substitute Kylian Mbappé dashed any hopes that the West Flemings might have had had of taking anything from the game.
Without Captain Ruud Vormer, the Club Brugge Coach Philippe Clement brought in some fresh young blood in the shape of De Ketelaere (photo below). It was only the second time that the youngster had been given a place in Club’s starting eleven. PSG started with Mbappé and Cavani on the bench.
After 7 minutes Thiago Silva sent a long ball to Di Maria. He passed to Icardi whose shot made it 0-1 to PSG. Moments later Di Maria had only Mignolet to beat, but it was not be. PSG turn down the heat a little after that. This allowed Club to push forward. However, PSG were so well organised that Club were unable to create much in the way of real chances. De Ketelaere came the closest to scoring when Navas’ clearance hit him on the back.
PSG’s can think themselves lucky that Meunier wasn’t given a red card for a foul at the end of the half.
Mbappé silences Club Brugge
The early stages of the second half saw Club Brugge go on the lookout for an equaliser. However, their efforts resulted in little more than a few half chances.
The Club Brugge players were starting to show signs of fatigue. PSG’s decision to bring in Mbappé half an hour from time was to put paid to any hopes the West Flemings might have had of salvaging anything from the game. He had been in the game for just a couple of minutes when he headed PSG 0-2 up on 61 minutes. 2 minutes later Mbappé (photo below) set up Icardi to score the visitors’ third goal.
It was game over for Club Brugge and with the exception of a long-range shot by substitute Okereke and a correctly disallowed goal from Diatta, the West Flemings were unable to answer PSG’s dominance.
Goals from the excellent Kylian Mbappé on 79 and 83 minutes made for a final score of 0-5 to PSG. After 3 games Club Brugge are 3rd in their group with 2 points. PSG lead the group with 9 points.
