Gent affirm Belgian title challenge

By on February 22, 2015

KAA Gent beat their rivals and current Belgian Jupiler Pro League leaders Club Brugge 2-1 in a fiercely competitive derby at the Ghelamco Arena. Gent – also known as the Buffaloes – applied further pressure on the league leaders and affirmed their status as serious challengers for the title with the victory.

This season Gent have performed consistently and came into the “Battle of Flanders” in-form. Only Standard Liège have been in better form of late and Gent had the added advantage of playing in front of a home crowd today.

Moses Simon’s goal in the twenty-second minute saw the home side take a well-deserved lead into the break, yet Ruud Vormer equalized for Club Brugge on the hour-mark after a good spell for the league leaders. Gent almost immediately regained the lead in the sixty-first minute when Benito Raman headed Danijel Milicevic’s cross just wide, though Brugge had good reason to believe the attacker was offside. Then, in the sixty-ninth minute, Club Brugge’s Boli, cousin of Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku, should have been sent off for stamping on Gent’s right-back, Nielsen.

Gent would finish Brugge off as substitute Renato Neto met Milicevic’s tantalizing far-post cross in the seventy-second minute, and the Brazilian’s flick was redirected by the Club Brugge’s own central-defender Simons. Wry and sarcastic applause from the Club Brugge manager ensued, though, in truth, the goal was more than deserved.

Gent held out to get a much-deserved victory over local rivals who looked as if they were from a European hangover after their exploits in the Europa League on Thursday.

Brugge had cause for upset in multiple refereeing decisions in the second-half, and it seemed as if manager Michael Preud’homme was trying to fill the gaps his team left on the pitch with his antics on the sidelines.

Heading into the local derby, the Belgian Jupiler Pro League was finely poised. Four points separated first-placed Club Brugge and Gent, the latter tied on points with reigning champions Anderlecht.

The Belgian Jupiler Pro League works in a playoff format: after 30 games the 16 teams are siphoned-off into three different playoffs, one to crown a champion, another rewarding with a spot in the Europa League, and the bottom to relegate the worst finishers.

As a result, Club Brugge has been the second-most successful team in Belgian domestic football having been crowned Belgian champions thirteen times, second only to the dominant Anderlecht who have been champions thirty-three times. Gent has twice been runners-up in the top-flight of Belgian football, but never champions – this year is shaping up to give them a good shot.

Added incentive comes as they moved into the Ghelamco Arena two seasons ago, which was the first new Belgian football stadium in the top flight 1974. Building a new stadium is a sure sign of ambition; in the world of Belgian football, Gent’s new stadium signified their intentions to join the big-leaguers.

So the 20,000-seater is a rarity in Belgium. With it, Gent’s supporters were allowed some bragging rights – now, their football is doing the talking.

Article by Charlie Champagne

Photo credit: Gunther Vermeulen on Wikipedia Commons

About Charlie Champagne

An Aberdeen fan living in Brussels who writes a lot about football. Likes to look into Belgian, Dutch and Scottish football (mostly), but also likes to look at football stats.