A fantastic stunt! Ilenikhena gives Antwerp a historic victory against Barcelona after a crazy final phase

“Barça stumbles on the Bosuil,” a colleague wrote in the afternoon in the editor’s WhatsApp group. On a video of The sports world it showed how chairman Joan Laporta had misstepped at the main entrance of the stadium and almost fell. A harbinger for the evening?

It would not be a first, because in ’65 Antwerp actually took the measure of Barcelona at home – goals from Willy van der Wee and Urbain Segers. Mark van Bommel likes to motivate his players with newspaper articles, so who knows, he may have delved into the archives this time. Although we suspect he didn’t have to say much for this match. The last time that hymn played through the speakers, the last time that fluttering star logo in the center circle, the last time the whole of Europe was watching: that had to be enough to make us appear eager.

Vermeeren celebrating after his goal. — © Isosport

The players did that too. Vincent Janssen in the lead. Immediately after the whistle, he tricked Koundé out of the ball and put it in front of goal. Kerk, who was allowed to start again due to the absence of Balikwisha, Muja and Ekkelenkamp, ​​just slipped past. Don’t worry, though, because after just 78 seconds the score was 1-0. The visitors wanted to build up in their own box, but Romeu lost the ball after a pass from his keeper. Dangerous. Very dangerous. Especially with Arturo Vermeeren nearby. Not that the midfielder is a frequent scorer, but he combines kicking technique with the talent to remain icy calm at such a moment. He flew in through the post and set the stadium ablaze.

In the record books

“Ture! Ture! Tuur!”, the supporters shouted, and rightly so. Vermeeren was a row higher on the pitch for the first time – he played as ‘ten’ – but it was still a shame that he scored against Barça, who have been watching him for a long time. Well, which club doesn’t have him on their radar now? Especially now that he is in the record books of the Champions League, as the youngest Belgian goalscorer ever (18 years and 309 days), everyone will know him, right?

Pay attention, of course, because Antwerp also took the lead against Shakhtar Donetsk (2-3) and FC Porto (1-4). Pushing through was the message and it worked. After ten minutes, De Laet and Vermeeren set up a nice one-two. Janssen eventually came across Peña. And on the half hour another good opportunity followed. Vermeeren had the chance to make it 2-0, but put the ball aside instead of kicking it himself.

Ferran balanced the boards before half time. — © BELGIUM

Barcelona actually offered nothing in return. Xavi had quite a nice team to kick off, including Lewandowski – good for 92 goals at the champions ball. But he couldn’t be satisfied with the first half hour at all. The Catalan media was already preparing to criticize, but hey, you know how it goes with such a top team. He can also score out of nowhere, and that showed again. A flash from both the 16-year-old goldcrest Yamal and Ferran, who outpaced Keita and outpaced Butez, was enough to bring the boards back into balance. What do you do about it? It may have started with Vermeeren, who choked on a high ball, but there were still enough players to correct that mistake. That didn’t happen, and so we went to halftime with a 1-1 score.

The VAR is in trouble

Nice for us: after the break the spectacle value increased even more. Antwerp did not give up and quickly made it 2-1. The only problem was that it was quickly disallowed for offside. On an assist from Vermeeren, Janssen was indeed a foot offside: a shame. On the other side, Yamal first vibrated the crossbar and the VAR intervened a second time. After Sergi Roberto received a red card for a tackle on Keita’s foot, the referee was called to the screen and turned it into a yellow card. A bit bizarre, because that was one clear error?

The frustration with the Great Old increased as a result, but that was not a bad thing. Together with the crowd, the players started to put even more pressure on Barcelona, ​​with success. This time it was Yusuf who forced Romeu into a mistake and then gave Janssen a perfect pass. This time the Dutchman was standing onside and aimed the 2-1 into the far corner. Nice moment for his first goal in the groups.

Ten minutes after halftime it was Antwerp’s turn to cheer again. — © BELGIUM

Pedri, Cancelo, Gündogan: a bit late but Xavi went anyway all-in. Wijndal and De Laet immediately had to do everything they could to prevent Pedri from scoring. In the meantime, Ejuke and co. more and more room to counter, but the finesse was missing. Coulibaly once again headed Alderweireld’s cross narrowly over. Not 3-1, but time was ticking away in the home team’s favor, which was something. With a few substitutions, Van Bommel tried to give his troops some extra oxygen and that was necessary. For a moment it seemed to go completely wrong when Guiu nodded the 2-2 past Butez, but 17-year-old George Ilenikhena had no intention of leaving it at that. Deep into added time, the French super sub was allowed to go alone on goal and he did not fail.

Still three points for Antwerp and for Van Bommel, who won his first victory in the Champions League after fifteen attempts and has therefore been freed from that annoying record. But much more important: he has allowed the Tawny Owl to enjoy it for the umpteenth time in the past year and a half.

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