Club Brugge was found at fault at its home turf against KV Kortrijk, suffering a 1-1 draw. After the visitors took the lead through Dejaegere, Nilsson managed to restore the balance still in the first half. An attacking Club assailed the visitors goal in the second half, but no more goals followed.
A demanding schedule asks for some rotation, and again Nicky Hayen benched some of his Starting XI in view of the clash with Manchester City on Wednesday, making room for Seys, Romero and Meijer in the back. In midfield, Nielsen and Vetlesen came on for Hans Vanaken (out ill) and Onyedika, while up front, Skóraś and Nilsson were given the nod at the expense of Talbi and Jutglà.
Club started out well, and five minutes in, Tzolis tried to take Skóraś' cross in one go, but the touch was not controlled enough to unsettle visiting goalie Pirard. Kortrijk came prepared with a fine organisation in the back, luring on the break. It allowed them to ask the Club defense some questions too, as Romero's tackle defused a Ferri attempt, and Kadri came centimeters short of making the most of a neat Ferri sharp cross.
The home crowd getting a bit antsy, Club started upping the pace: Nilsson first saw Meijer's cross cleared in his path, while Pirard grabbed his header a bit later, and Tzolis, after a fantastich throughball by Jashari, saw his lobby over Pirard heading towards goal cleared just in time by Gueye. Just when Club seemed to be going for that opener, the goal came on the other side of the pitch, as Brecht Dejaegere clearheadedly put it past Mignolet after Seys had put it to him, clearing a Ferri header.
With time steadily ticking away, Club now had to roll up its sleeves to keep off that fiesty KVK, grabbing the visitors by the throat as Nilsson's clever back heel upon a Skóraś cross was saved by Pirard, and Vetlesen fired over after that same Nilsson had headed it back to him inside the box. With five minutes on the clock, the home fans could relax a little bit more as Nilsson tucked in a penalty kick, awarded after a pull inside the box by Gueye.
As De Cuyper took Meijer's place in the second half, Club now steamed ahead, in the hopes of creating a gap with those clingy visitors. Seys reaching the goal line, he found Nielsen in front of goal, who tried to outwit the goalkeeper with a clever backheel, but again the visiting goalie had a fine save in store. Club now pinned KVK against its own goal, and sixty minutes in, De Cuyper neatly found Nilsson all alone inside the box, but the Swede took too much time, squandering what was an excellent opportunity. Next up was Jutglà, first seeing Pirard stretch to tap his effort into corner kick, and later on seeing his curled effort go just wide.
A restless Jan Breydel rose as Nilsson tried his luck from close range, but again Pirard stood ground, tapping it away from just below the crossbar. On the other side of the pitch, Ferri's deviation saw it go over. The closing minutes of the game saw more of the same, Club relentlessly attacking that Kortrijk box, with the visitors now trying the stall play every which way they could. With the exception of a Tzolis attempt missing target marginally, Club was unable to create any more clear danger. 1-1 it was, with Club seeing the gap with leaders Genk grow to three units again.
Jupiler Pro League – Match Day 23
Audience: 25,000 – Jan Breydel Stadium
Ref: Mr. Simon Bourdeaud'hui
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet – Joaquin Seys, Brandon Mechele, Zaid Romero, Bjorn Meijer (46’ Maxim De Cuyper) – Casper Nielsen (56’ Raphael Onyedika), Ardon Jashari, Hugo Vetlesen (56’ Chemsdine Talbi) - Michał Skóraś (69’ Ferran Jutglà), Gustaf Nilsson, Christos Tzolis. Bench: Nordin Jackers, Dani van den Heuvel, Joel Ordóñez, Romeo Vermant, Hugo Siquet en Kyriani Sabbe.
Coach: Nicky Hayen.
KV Kortrijk: Lucas Pirard – Gilles Dewaele, Mouhamed Gueye, Bram Lagae, Nayel Mehssatou – Karim Dermane, Marco Ilaimaharitra (90’ Mounaim El Idrissy) , Abdoulaye Sissako, Brecht Dejaegere (82’ Ryan Alebiosu) - Abdelkahar Kadri (90’ Massimo Bruno), Nacho Ferri (90’ Thierry Ambrose).
Coach: Yves Vanderhaeghe.
Yellow: Skóraś, Dewaele, El Idrissy, Jashari, Pirard.
Red: none
Goals: 24’ Dejaegere (0-1), 42’ Nilsson (penalty, 1-1).