A disheartening draw for Club Brugge against KV Kortrijk. The hosts took a first half lead through Zinckernagel, only to see the visitors draw level and even go past through Afolabi and Bruno. Mechele's equaliser left enough room to even take the lead through Thiago with seconds to play, but well into injury time Seck made sure the points went both ways after a tense final fifteen minutes.
The broad win at Charleroi did not spur Ronny Deila towards many changes, so the same eleven manned the pitch against Kortrijk. Eager to continue its winning ways, Club grabbed the opponent by the throat from the very beginning and chances followed: Vetlesen was unable to make the most of a great combining action, Skov Olsen's cracker was saved by Pirard, who also proved the better of another Danish attempt a bit later. The goalkeeper was in fine spirits, beating Skov Olsen to the ball after he was put through on goal by Zinckernagel.
The clear dominance finally also reflected in the score line. A low Skov Olsen cross was pawed away by Pirard, but the ball ended up with Zinckernagel who fired in the opener from close range. Looking for that second goal, Club kept meeting with a solid Pirard, serving up saves upon shots by Skov Olsen and Zinckernagel, and being in the right place as Meijer's goalbound header finally reached Vanaken, but the Club skipper was too surprised to tap it home.
The visitors had all the trouble in the world combining their way forward, and except for an El Idrissy lob going wide, only one team was capable of creating danger, through blocked shots by Thiago and Skov Olsen, and Pirard saves denying Thiago. Another fine header by Meijer reached Thiago by the far post, but Club's industrious striker was unable to slam it in.
The second half started with some more Club prowess, as Thiago took too much time to place his effort, Skov Olsen saw another shot blocked, and Vanaken's header sailed over. To make matters worse, the goal came on the other end. Mignolet first proved the better of De Neve's shot, but Afolabi's low shot made it 1-1 anyway. The xG stat was clearly in favour of the hosts by then, but it was KVK that again made the most of the little they got, as Bruno dummied Spileers to cut free and hammer it past Mignolet to make it 1-2.
With time ticking, Blue and Black went all-out on attack. Vanaken's header reached Jutglà, just on, but the Spaniard haphazardly shot it far too high. Fifteen minutes on the clock, the equaliser finally came: a De Cuyper corner kick somehow ended up with Mechele, tapping in the 2-2 from close range. And still it wasn't over: with five minutes to go, an excellent cross by Skóraś was masterfully headed in by Thiago. Surely that would be enough, but well into injury time, Club was unable to clear the ball from its goal mound, and Seck was all too eager to tuck in the late late equaliser.
Jupiler Pro League – Match Day 23
Audience: 24,000 – Jan Breydel Stadium
Ref: Mr. Jonathan Lardot
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet – Maxim De Cuyper, Jorne Spileers, Brandon Mechele, Bjorn Meijer (85’ Michał Skóraś) – Hugo Vetlesen, Casper Nielsen (69’ Éder Balanta), Hans Vanaken – Andreas Skov Olsen (93’ Denis Odoi), Igor Thiago, Philip Zinckernagel (69’ Ferran Jutglà). Bench: Joe Bursik, Nordin Jackers, Kyriani Sabbe, Victor Barbera en Dedryck Boyata. Coach: Ronny Deila.
KV Kortrijk: Lucas Pirard – Nayel Mehssatou, Haruya Fujii, João Silva, Ryotaro Tsunoda, Dion De Neve (70’ Sheyi Ojo) – Kristiyan Malinov (55’ Abdoulaye Sissako), Massimo Bruno (82’ Djibi Seck), Abdelkahar Kadri – Mounaim El Idrissy, Jonathan Afolabi (82’ Mark Mampasi). Coach: Freyr Alexandersson.
Yellow: Mehssatou, Thiago, Ojo.
Red: none.
Goals: 16’ Zinckernagel (1-0), 53’ Afolabi (1-1), 68’ Bruno (1-2), 78’ Mechele (2-2), 86’ Thiago (3-2), 97’ Seck (3-3).