Noa Lang gets red card after lost derby

Sunday, December 26, 2021 at 3:27 PM• Jordi Tomasowa • Last update: 15:37

Club Brugge suffered a painful defeat during the derby against Cercle Brugge in the Jupiler Pro League on Sunday afternoon. On a visit to the fellow townsman, the team of trainer Phillippe Clement went down 2-0. Noa Lang received his second yellow card after the final whistle. Due to the loss, Club is stuck at 40 points from 21 matches. The gap on leader Union Sint-Gillis, which has played one game less, is currently six points.

At Club, Noa Lang and Ruud Vormer started in the starting line-up, while Bas Dost had to settle for a place on the bench. Cercle had the chance to open the score after fifteen minutes. After a good individual action by Rabbi Matondo, Olivier Deman could only go after goalkeeper Simon Mignolet. However, the midfielder lingered just too long, after which Brandon Mechele, who followed along, was able to remove his bet from the goal line. The visitors did not enjoy the game, but created a rare chance via Charles De Ketelaere. The striker gave from the back line to Hans Vanaken, who forced goalkeeper Thomas Didillon to a final save.

In the attack, Charles Vanhoutte was close to the opening goal with a long shot on behalf of the home team. Just like the rest of Bruges, Lang was clearly not in the game and escaped his second yellow card shortly before half-time after complaining to referee Nicolas Laforge. The spell was finally broken by Cercle in the second half, when a free kick by Club was not cleared properly. The ball fell at the feet of Senna Miangue, who shot in hard: 1-0.

Then Didillon turned out to be a great hero in the derby. The closing post first had an answer to a attempt by Vormer and then kept Rits from the equalizer with an excellent reflex. Vanaken still had the 1-1 on his foot ten minutes before the end, but he did not touch the ball, so that Didillon was in the way again. Club gave away more and more space in pursuit of a point and Cercle seemed to take advantage of this just before time. However, Matondo saw his shot hit the crossbar. The attacker was important in injury time by giving the ball to Sousa after a smooth attack on a silver platter: 2-0.