In numerical superiority for an hour, Anderlecht struggled to win 2-0 against the Bulgarians of Ludogorets during the 3rd day of the league phase of the Europa League on Thursday at Lotto Park. Samuel Edozie (67th) and Anders Dreyer (90th + 4) notably allowed the Mauves to win their third victory in as many matches and to be third in the ranking. Only Lazio Rome and Tottenham are ahead of Anderlecht, with the same total points (9).
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In a choppy first period, the main event of the game was the expulsion of Caio Vidal on the Ludogorets side. The Brazilian, author of a violent elbow on Tim Degreef who was pulling his jersey, was directly sent off after 30 minutes of play. Before that, Anderlecht had two chances: an off-target shot from Majeed Ashimeru (9th ) and a header from Luis Vazquez (11th) stopped at close range by the opposing goalkeeper. The Bulgarians could also have opened the scoring very early, with a shot from Dinis Almeida going wide from a corner (2nd).
In the second half, Anderlecht struggled to take advantage of its numerical advantage but finally managed to break through the Bulgarian defense thanks to Edozie, coming off the bench: Yari Verschaeren first came up against the goalkeeper, then Simic saw his shot blocked by the defense and the ball arrived at the feet of the 21-year-old Englishman, who scored with power. Kilian Sardella then narrowly missed the break, alone on the right (86th). Anderlecht thought they were being punished with a header from Rwan Seco, refused for offside (90th) and Dreyer finally delivered his team by scoring after a quick reconversion (90th+4).
On the next day, Anderlecht will travel to Latvians Riga FS on November 7.
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