Club Brugge suffer first league defeat of the season
It is party time for fans of Royal Antwerp FC as their team has become the first to beat the league leaders Club Brugge in a league game so far this season. In what was their second blow this week after Wednesday’s penalty debacle in the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain, Club Brugge threw away a one-goal lead to be beaten 2-1 by Antwerp.
Club Brugge took the lead on 25 minutes through Siebe Schrijvers. This was the trigger for some bad behaviour from the Antwerp fans some of whom threw plastic beakers containing beer onto the pitch.
The goal came in a first half that had previously been pretty much devoid of chances. Antwerp offered little in the way of a reply apart from a couple of half chances from Myoshi. More beer being thrown from the stands caused the match referee to call the players from the pitch. The half ended 0-1 in Club Brugge’s favour.
In the second half Antwerp were award a penalty 5 minutes in for a foul on Mbokani inside the box. Mbokani converted the penalty and it was 1-1. Things went from bad to worse for Club Brugge on 62 minutes when Simon Mignot put the ball into the back of his own net. Could the leaders’ first league defeat of be on the cards?
Club did their best to seize the initiative. Vanaken’s shot land on the roof of the goal. Schrijvers too shot over. Tempers flared after a foul be De Sart and it took a several yellow cards to calm things down. With the end of the match in site Mbokani came close to making it 3-1. However, Sobol cleared from the line.
The 2-1 final score was Antwerp’s first home win against Club Brugge since 1997. With both teams having played 14 games, Club Brugge remain top with 33 points. Royal Antwerp FC are 5th with 24 points. However, they could slip back a place depending on the result of KV Mechelen’s game at Standard on Sunday evening.