Club Brugge brushed Belisia Bilzen 6-1 aside in the Croky Cup 1/16th finals. Blauw-Zwart were 3-1 up at the break after a Jutglà brace and Romero goal, and racked up three more in the second half through Nilsson, Meijer and Skóraś.
Nicky Hayen changed his line-up in eight positions compared to Sunday's 2-1 win over Anderlecht. Nordin Jackers was given the nod for the first time this season with Sabbe, Spileers, Romero and Siquet lined-up as a back four in front of him. Onyedika patrolled the midfield with Vanaken and Nielsen, while Skóraś and Skov Olsen started out wide with Jutglà as centre-forward.
Belisia Bilzen ousted second divisionist Lommel from the cup in the previous round and were hoping to stun Club with a first chance after just thirty seconds, but Jackers did well to collecte the dangerous looking cross. As expected, Club immediately took over control. Nonetheless it ook Blauw-Zwart fifteen minutes to break the deadlock by Jutglà, which was quickly followed by a seond for the Catalan. First he headed in Nielsen's cross, then he rolled it in underneath the goalkeeper.
Club were in the drivers' seat and saw a good goal by Nielsen chalked off because Sabbe's cross had just crossed the backline. Halfway the first half it was 3-0 after all when Zaid Romero pounced home from close range. Nielsen and Vanaken missed to make it four, before Sam Valcke pulled one back for Belisia when he chested down a good long ball and then smashed it in the far top corner out of reach of Jackers. A header from Spileers and an effort from Jutglà didn't result in a goal so the 3-1 score remained on the bord at half-time.
The second half started with a blocked shot by Sabbe, an effort by Nielsen over goal and a goal by Skov Olsen that was disallowed for offside. At the other end, Maus couldn't keep his shot on target, while Jackers had to parry away a header from Vandecaetsbeek. Davino Verhulst also had to show his prowess on a Skov Olsen shot.
On the hour, Hayen made a triple change: besides Jashari and Nilsson, Bjorn Meijer was also allowed to celebrate his return after months of absence. And those substitutions immediately paid off. A cross from Siquet to Nilsson was first cleared, but immediately afterwards it was a winner. Skóraś released Meijer down the left and his cross was turned in by Nilsson. A few minutes later it was even 5-1, when Meijer headed Jashari's looping through ball over Verhulst.
In the closing stages, a shot by Romero was blocked, a free-kick by Siquet rattled the crossbar and Meijer failed to cash in on a fine pass from Jashari. Moments later, Verhulst did great on a Nilsson cross. However, Michał Skóraś had the final say when Meijer found the Poland international in front of goal and he put the ball against the back of the net: 6-1. A great night for Club that cruises past Belisia to the 1/8th finals of the Croky Cup.
Croky Cup – 1/16th finals
Attendance: 14.000 – Jan Breydelstadion
Referee: Hannes De Couvreur
Club Brugge: Nordin Jackers – Kyriani Sabbe (60’ Bjorn Meijer), Jorne Spileers, Zaid Romero, Hugo Siquet – Casper Nielsen, Raphael Onyedika (60’ Ardon Jashari), Hans Vanaken (73’ Romeo Vermant) – Andreas Skov Olsen (73’ Chemsdine Talbi), Ferran Jutglà (60’ Gustaf Nilsson), Michał Skóraś. Bench: Dani van den Heuvel, Axl De Corte and Brandon Mechele. Coach: Nicky Hayen.
Belisia Bilzen SV: Davino Verhulst – Siebren Lathouwers (86’ Jasper Coolen), Falke Vandecaetsbeek, Etienne Aka, Matthiece Nelissen - Sam Valcke (73’ Frederik Spruyt), Lucas Chantrain, Jordi Maus, Tiemen Wijnen - Bernd Stassen (73’ Denis Bunchukov), Sonny Baik. Coach: Mirko Licata.
Yellow cards: Valcke, Chantrain, Coolen.
Red cards: none
Goals: 15’ Jutglà (1-0), 17’ Jutglà (2-0), 24’ Romero (3-0), 36’ Valcke (3-1), 64’ Nilsson (4-1), 67’ Meijer (5-1), 87’ Skóraś (6-1).