COMMENTS. Hans Vanaken: “That foul on me was just a penalty”, Christian Burgess: “Why did I wave at the Bruges bench? I do not know that anymore”

“It is certainly a sour ending,” Hans Vanaken analyzed after the match. “You know that the ball can always fall well during free kicks and that happened in the last minute. I don’t think they deserved a goal, but they scored one.” And that is not unimportant with a view to the return match, as Club’s captain knows. “Everything is open for the return match. 2-0 would have been better for us, but it wouldn’t have changed anything about the upcoming match. We will have to fight again and hopefully we can reach the final. The way is not too important.”

Club might have deserved a penalty after Charles Vanhoutte brought down Vanaken in the penalty area. “He hits me, so that’s just a penalty,” the midfielder said afterwards. “Vanhoutte thinks he has a lot of time and I put my foot in front of it, so that’s just a penalty.” Vanaken also briefly reflected on Alexandre Boucaut’s statements following the Club captain’s red card after the lost match against Antwerp. “I don’t respond to that. That’s the best and the smartest thing. What others say doesn’t interest me. I just focus on playing football.”

Vanaken. — © Isosport

Skov Olsen knows that Union is not finished yet

Skov Olsen laughed afterwards. And rightly so, Club had won against Union, but the Dane could hardly shake the disappointment of the late goal, just like his captain. “Of course we are a bit disappointed. We played an excellent match for 85 minutes and we kept their best players from having opportunities. After such a late stroke of luck you are a bit annoyed.”

Skov Olsen gave Club the lead in typical style after ten minutes, but that did not stop the blue-black winger from also adding feathers to the cap of Union goalkeeper Anthony Moris. “I have scored goals like this before, but with this goalkeeper you have to kick the ball very close to the post. He is simply a very good goalkeeper,” said Skov Olsen, who remains wary of the people of Brussels. “One goal difference is a good start, but we will have to play a smart game (in the Dudenpark, ed.).”

Skov Olsen celebrates his goal. — © BELGIUM

Burgess: “What I shouted at the Bruges bank? I do not know that anymore”

“We leave with a good feeling. That goal was very important for us. We didn’t play our best match. The big difference today was Andreas Skov Olsen. He scores and provides the assist, but in the end we return to Brussels with only one goal behind. Did we only hit the target once? Yeah, they played well, didn’t they? We also wanted to bounce back after the break, but the fact that we immediately conceded a goal was disappointing. We just have to do better there.”

Burgess was also asked what he shouted to the Bruges bench after Union’s late goal. “Did I shout something?” he responded. “I do not know that anymore. And why did I wave? I don’t remember that either. Ah, there are also some characters on the bench at Club. It’s always a good fight between us.”

Union can be satisfied with the result, less so with the game delivered. — © BELGIUM

Alexander Blessin: “We have to be happy that we ‘only’ lost 2-1

After the match, coach Alexander Blessin was not pleased with his team’s performance. “Of course I am not satisfied with the performance and the result,” said the 50-year-old German. “Although we can of course be happy with that late goal. That makes everything a bit more feasible in the return match. If, after such a bad day, you only end up losing 2-1, then you have to be happy with that. We will take this with us to the return match in three weeks, they are very welcome. It will be a fun battle.”

Furthermore, the search was on for reasons for Union’s inferior performance. Blessin saw where the problem was. “Our structure was not good, and we left too many spaces between the different lines. We just couldn’t get into the match, and at Club Balanta always got between the lines well. They could easily switch sides because we gave away too much space. With the first goal we lose the ball and run into a counter. After half-time we wanted to put more grinta into our game, but then we immediately conceded the second goal.”

© Isosport

Charles Vanhoutte: “2-0 and 2-1 is a huge difference”

Charles Vanhoutte also saw that the intensity at Union was a major problem on Wednesday evening. “Every fifty-fifty match was for Club, while that is normally our strength,” said the 25-year-old midfielder. “So you see that if the basics are not good, it always becomes difficult. Especially against teams like Club Brugge.”

“We struggled to get into our game. Ultimately, I don’t think we gave away many chances, but they scored from their only two 100% chances. We didn’t create too much either, luckily we still scored that important 2-1 in the last minutes. Thanks to that goal, we still have a match in the Dudenpark, even though that might have been the case at 2-0.”

“What percentage chance do I give us? I can’t answer that, I’ll leave that to the journalists. My math was never that good, so maybe yours is better,” the Belgian laughs. “Although we will of course go all out for it. If we win in three weeks, we will play at least extra time.”

© BELGIUM

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