Antwerp has won its first victory in the Champions’ Play-offs: it won 0–1 on the field of Cercle Brugge. Chidera Ejuke was the goal scorer. For Cercle it is also the first defeat in the play-offs.
Antwerp certainly did not present itself in Bruges as a team overflowing with confidence and this mainly translated into a number of misunderstandings in the build-up, with often unnecessary losses of the ball. However, there was no real spectacle, because the attacking machine also faltered a little too often for the home team.
Still, there were certainly some opportunities for Cercle to go into halftime with a lead, but Felipe and Denkey just missed that little bit of sharpness in the zone of truth. Antwerp did have some nice chances through Janssen, but the red-white combinations hardly came to fruition. The match picture did not immediately change after halftime. Cercle Brugge remained camped for a long time with half of the visitors who only very cautiously dared to cross in the direction of Warleson. As the match progressed, there was more space between the lines and Antwerp became increasingly successful in creating opportunities. Ejuke and Janssen took a corner kick short in the 66th minute and the Nigerian aimed the ball against the ropes from a very sharp angle.
Cercle Brugge had to give chase, but it was Antwerp that continued to create opportunities. However, the efficiency was lacking to completely decide the game. Cercle became increasingly frustrated with the match management of ref Verboomen, who showed yellow card a few times.
In the end, Antwerp remained upright and was able to take home the three points.
