Hans Vanaken: “Big compliments to ourselves”
Club Brugge made history by reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa Conference League. A beaming captain Hans Vanaken reflected on the well-deserved qualification.
“It is a wonderful and historic moment for Belgian football. How long has it been since a Belgian team achieved this? It’s just amazing.”
In the first leg, Club could have deepened the score and made things easier for themselves. “You know it can be haunted here. With their atmosphere and their supporters it could have been difficult, but I think we showed from the start that we were the better team. We made sure that they couldn’t turn it into a witch’s cauldron. A big compliment to ourselves!”.
“We dared to play football. At home we had seen that their pressure was not that phenomenal and that there would be space,” the captain continued. “We found depth at the right moments. In fact, everything was in that first half. The only thing is that you don’t rewarded even more and went into halftime at 0-2. The lead could have been bigger.”
There was less to do during the second half. “It was the moment not to be crazy. I think we could control their half even more. They actually didn’t know what wood arrows are made of. There was a bit too much unnecessary loss of ball on our part, but those are details. It’s just beautiful.”
PAOK could not really threaten Blauw-Zwart. “We might have expected them to be stronger, but maybe it’s also our strength at the moment and we didn’t give them the chance to get into the match. At home they gave the impression that they were satisfied with the 1-0, but if you start so well here and give them the feeling that you can play football easily, they get the feeling that it will not work and then you avoid the supporters will get behind it.”
The opponent in the semi-finals is called Fiorentina. “A good Club Brugge can dream and we must dream. You want to reach that final now, but first Union and then the matches against Genk. Then we can start watching the matches against Fiorentina. We shouldn’t worry about it now and just enjoy qualifying.”
While things were difficult for Club a month ago, the tenor is now completely different. Our captain could only agree with that. “That’s how it goes in football and it can change so quickly. It is also the great thing about European football. You can put a lot right 3 to 4 days later. A month ago we were pretty much written off in all competitions. It seemed like we only had European to make something of it, the only bright spot.”
The next match awaits at the Dudenpark against Union on Sunday. “It is now important to recover quickly for Sunday, because that is another important match in the competition. Of course it is nice if you are in a positive flow. Hopefully we can continue that on Sunday.” he concluded with a smile. (EV)
Nicky Hayen: “All compliments to my group today”
Interim coach Hayen was of course a very satisfied coach after the beautiful and deserved victory on the PAOK field.
“I think the group just handled it very maturely today,” Hayen began his story. “I must say that the organization was very good and we also delivered quality with the ball today. I think that 0-2 just before half time gave us the necessary breathing space to completely kill the match. So all compliments to my group Today.”
The much-discussed witch’s cauldron ultimately did not last that long. “That’s right and we’ve discussed it enough in the past week. We tried to copy a number of things, but of course that doesn’t work 100%. Then you have 2 things: either you fight it, or you try to enjoy it and you try to have that focus. Ultimately it will be decided on that green mat. The advantage was perhaps that there were already a lot of people present during the warm-up, you could already hear the flute concert and also during the warm-up you go in. Then you can already imagine what to expect. From day one we said that we wanted to play without fear and we did that in the home game, even though it wasn’t great today “We have continued that line and that is a line that we also want to extend to next Sunday.”
Club played with a lot of confidence on the ball. “Absolutely and we already said that before the match. If you dig in here, and with the support of the audience, you will really face a more difficult evening than perhaps was intended. We showed from the first minute that we wanted the ball. Some of their boys were allowed to have the ball and some were not and they were not able to take advantage of that. We knew we were going to get space, but You are always somewhat dependent on how they will react. We had the idea that if they pressed on our 6, there would be space elsewhere. What we failed to do in the first leg, we did today and then lo and behold You think you can create opportunities. Then it’s a shame that you don’t take advantage of the first of those three, because otherwise it might have been a little easier and they would have to come a little faster. However, all credits go to the group and I really appreciate it proud of them. They did it today and I’m very happy about that.”
Club has now undergone a minor metamorphosis under interim coach Hayen. “I am part of a great staff and you have also seen that in the pleasure that everyone radiates. Everyone has and takes their responsibility and then you see that you can achieve a lot. If you can also show that trust from the staff to the group and they can sympathize on that cloud, then you really have a synergy between staff and players, but also between the supporters. Then you are in a very good flow at the moment and I also think we should enjoy that tonight “But we have another very important match waiting for us on Sunday. So let us enjoy tonight in moderation and immediately shift our focus to Sunday from tomorrow,” concluded a sober and satisfied coach Hayen. (TM)
