Club Brugge took on KV Mechelen at the AFAS Stadium on matchday 17 of the Jupiler Pro League. Vanaken and Thiago rippled the net, but both goals were disallowed and so the game ended in a 0-0 draw.
Last Wednesday Club advanced to the Croky Cup quarter-finals after beating Zulte-Waregem 4-0, but coach Deila opted for the team that had beaten Standard apart from his choice for Nielsen instead of Onyedika. Skov Olsen scored a brace on Wednesday but dropped to the bench. Jutglà and Zinckernagel played in support of Thiago.
The hosts were best out of the starting blocks with an eager Bassette who aimed a tame shot into the arms of Mignolet from a sharp angle and later on saw a Foulon cross evade him. Still inside the first quarter of an hour Club responded swiftly when Nielsen powered through the home side's defence and cut back to Vanaken who slotted home, but the ball appeared to have just crossed the backline.
In a lively game with chances for both sides, it was now KV Mechelen that tried to break the deadlock. Schoofs tried his luck with a half-volley, but he skied his finish and Bassette latched onto a Mrabti through ball before seeing his shot saved by Mignolet. Blauw-Zwart took back control, but couldn't create too much apart from a De Cuyper free-kick and Jutlà curling the ball wide of the far post. In between those chances, Hairemans' long-distance strike was thwarted by Mignolet. Just before the half-time whistle the hosts knocked on the door once more, but both Vanlerberghe and Konaté failed to really make it hard for Mignolet.
No changes at the break for either side and the start of the second half was pretty much a copy of the first with Blauw-Zwart hogging the ball and Mechelen lurking on the break. With barely any chances created, coach Deila made a triple substitution just before the hour-mark: Skov Olsen, Onyedika and Meijer came on for Zinckernagel, Nielsen an Buchanan. Shortly after, Bassette tried to lob Mignolet but his try went far wide.
Halfway the second half Club had a massive chance to open the scoring. First a Thiago header was saved easily, but when De Cuyper picked out Vetlesen in front of goal, the Norwegian struck the ball high over the target. This was the sign for Club to up the pressure and that quickly resulted in a goal by Thiago, but this time it was chalked off as well as he was deemed to be offside. A few minutes later Meijer found Nusa, who feeded the ball to Skov Olsen and the Dane saw his strike tipped over the crossbar by Coucke. The last chance in regular time was for Nusa, but the Norwegian winger was unlucky as his effort crashed against the post and Thiago was too surprised to roll in the rebound.
There were seven minutes of stoppage time, but Club couldn't snatch a late win and so this fixtures ends in a scoreless tie. On Thursday Club hosts FK Bodø/Glimt to decide who will top Group D in the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage.
Jupiler Pro League – Matchday 17
Attendance: 19.500 – AFAS Stadion
Referee: Nicolas Laforge
KV Mechelen: Gaëtan Coucke – Sandy Walsh, David Bates, Elias Cobbaut, Daam Foulon – Mory Konaté, Jordi Vanlerberghe, Rob Schoofs – Geoffry Hairemans (74’ Yonas Malede), Norman Bassette (62’ Lion Lauberbach), Kerim Mrabti (88’ Jannes Van Hecke).
Bench: Yannick Thoelen, Jannes Van Hecke, Yonas Malede, Lion Lauberbach, Ngal’Ayel Mukau, Bilal Bafdili, Patrick Pflücke.
Coach: Besnik Hasi.
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet – Tajon Buchanan (57’ Bjorn Meijer), Jorne Spileers, Brandon Mechele, Maxim De Cuyper – Casper Nielsen (57’ Raphael Onyedika), Hugo Vetlesen, Hans Vanaken - Philip Zinckernagel (57’ Andreas Skov Olsen), Igor Thiago, Ferran Jutglà (68’ Antonio Nusa).
Bench: Nordin Jackers, Nick Shinton, Denis Odoi, Bjorn Meijer, Andreas Skov Olsen, Raphael Onyedika, Éder Balanta, Michal Skóras, Victor Barberà.
Coach: Ronny Deila.
Yellow cards: Foulon, Zinckernagel, De Cuyper, Bates, Hasi, Vanaken, Coucke, Onyedika, Mechele
Red cards: none
Goals: none