Club Brugge booked their third victory in a week on Saturday evening. After a crazy first half, Philippe Clement’s team was 3-2 too strong for PhD student RFC Seraing. Bas Dost, who was allowed to start in the starting line-up for the first time since November 19, took two hits and brought his season total to seven. With the victory, Bruges, which will visit Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday, climbs to second place with 33 points from 17 matches.
At Bruges, the crisis atmosphere seems to have given way to slight optimism, after the team managed to beat KRC Genk in both the competition and the cup last week. Moreover, Bruges is the only team in Belgium that is still unbeaten at home in a competition. Clement opted for Dost against Seraing and awarded Cisse Sandra his first base place in the competition. Noa Lang and Ruud Vormer also appeared at the kick-off. The first moment of excitement followed after fifteen minutes, when Dost suddenly took a cross from Vormer out of the way. His attempt went over the goal at Guillaume Dietsch.
A minute later, the ball hit the dot. Antoine Bernier committed a foul on Vormer when the midfielder wanted to strike, after which referee Alexandre Boucaut put the ball at eleven meters. Dost knew what to do with the opportunity and sent Dietsch into the wrong corner. Lang also showed himself in the first quarter of the game. The winger slipped past two opponents midway through the first half, but saw his effort end up in the side net. Slipping past his direct opponent after half an hour, he offered the unmissable opportunity to Dost, who made his seventh of the season and brought Lang’s assist to eight.
Seraing was only sparsely involved in the first act. The only time the visitors got really dangerous was Simon Mignolet in the way. Georges Mikautadze charged for goal alone, but was unlucky in the finish. On the stroke of half-time, the Brugge goalie was beaten when he was passed around by Ablie Jallow, who took full advantage of a wonderful deep pass from Youssef Maziz with the outside right. That was not the end of the first half, as Sandra graced his basic debut with his first goal in the shirt of Blue-Black. The midfielder finished in a controlled manner on a pass from Charles De Ketelaere: 3-1.
The final chord in the first act came in the name of Dario Del Fabro, who was able to finish unhindered with the head after a free kick by Maziz. The goal storm died down in the second half. Brugge looked vulnerable on the flanks, but saw how the visitors were unable to force an equalizer. Vormer left after more than an hour of play, after which De Ketelaere and Dost missed opportunities to make it 4-2. Lang’s goal was disallowed for offside. On Tuesday, Clement’s team can secure a European winter, if the star team of Mauricio Pochettino is the opponent in Paris.