It will be the 6th meeting in First Division between Club Brugge and Dender. The previous 2 home matches ended in 1 win (2-0 on 20/10/2007) and 1 draw (1-1 on 13/09/2008). The last 3 mutual duels Club Brugge remained unbeaten against Dender (2W 1D).
On the 5th matchday, Club hosted Denderleeuw for the first time in 16 seasons for a game in the Jupiler Pro League. At that time, Dender was third in the standings and were still unbeaten. Club came out of the locker rooms energetically at the Dender Football Complex. Within 15 minutes it was already on a double lead. First Gustaf Nilsson was able to head in a clever cross from Maxim De Cuyper. Then Christos Tzolis, on a pass from Hans Vanaken, was able to outsmart the home goalkeeper for a 2nd time with a low crossed shot. Just before halftime, Dender was able to score the tying goal when Nathan Rôdes was able to tap in a cross from close range. After the break, the home team continued to push and Joel Ordóñez prevented the home team from equalizing with a fantastic tackle (1-2 score).
Club's top shooter since last week is Christos Tzolis. After his 4 goals against STVV, he sits at 6 goals in the league and surpasses Andreas Skov-Olsen. It was not since November 2016 that another Club player scored 4 or more goals in 1 match: Jelle Vossen then let KV Mechelen off with 4 goals (6-1). Hans Vanaken is assist king. He already set a teammate on his way to a goal 5 times. Andreas Skov Olsen gave an assist on Hans Vanaken's goal last week. That was his 30th assist at Club Brugge.
The opponent
Next Saturday evening, FCV Dender EH will be our guest at Jan Breydel. After the outward round of the Jupiler Pro League, the club is 10th in the rankings with 18 points. That is 10 points less than Club Brugge and 1 point above the "safe" 12th place. A setback for Dender is that it already fell in the Croky Cup. It lost 2-1 in the 1/16th final to second division team Zulte Waregem.
After the first match, Dender reinforced itself with one more player: Polish defender Karol Fila came over from RC Strasbourg. He already played in 2023 in the Jupiler Pro League on loan for Zulte Waregem. Last week he scored his first goal for Dender visiting Antwerp (1-1).
Coach of the East Flanders club is still Vincent Euvrard (42). Mohamed Berte and Bruny Nsimba are FCV Dender EH's two top shooters with 3 goals. Club Brugge youth player Joedrick Pupe is Dender's assist king (4 assists).
FCV Dender played 2 games in a row tied in the Jupiler Pro League. If they manage a draw on Saturday, it would be a new club record of 3 draws in a row in the JPL.
Only 3 teams scored proportionately more often on a stoppage time than Dender (39%; 7 of 18 goals). Only Beerschot (92%) scored more often from open play than Club Brugge (83%).
Milestones
- Maxim De Cuyper can play his 80th game for Club.
- Chemsdine Talbi can finish his 25th official match at Blauw-Zwart.
- Raphael Onyedika can play his 75th match in the Jupiler Pro League for Club.
- Joel Ordóñez can play his 30th league match at FCB.
- Gustaf Nilsson awaits his 10th league match for Club and his 75th in the Jupiler Pro League.
Total stats:
First Division: 5 duels, 3 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat. 7 goals for, 3 goals against
TOTAL: 5 duels, 3 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat. 7 goals for, 3 goals against
Referee
Bert Put will referee this match on Saturday. He is assisted by linesmen Quentin Blaise and Nicolas Maszowez and by fourth official Tom Stevens. Wim Smet is the VAR. He will be assisted by Ruben Wyns and Christophe Snoeck.
The 36-year-old referee is leading an official Club Brugge match for the 8th time. Club's 5 previous home matches under his direction ended in 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat. Put led 1 match of FCV Dender and that ended in a draw.
It is Put's first match this season involving Club Brugge.
