If he were to contribute a goal against KV Mechelen, he would do so for the 230th time (134 goals + 95 assists)!
Club already scored 34 times this season, better than any other JPL team. KV Mechelen comes in third with 32 goals scored. Club managed to score in 17 of their last 18 away games in the JPL, not outdone in this respect by any other team.
If Club Brugge does not lose on Saturday, it will be unbeaten for 10 official matches in a row.
The opponent
On Saturday, our opponents will be KV Mechelen, sitting in 5th place after 16 match days, just 6 points behind Club Brugge.
The majority of those points were won at home (16 out of 24); only KRC Genk (22), Club Brugge (17), Union (17) and Standard (17) pocketed more points at home. Malinwa has been unbeaten 6 home games on end in the JPL. In its last 5 official games, however, Malinwa only won once (3-0 vs Beerschot).
Last week could have gone better for coach Besnik Hasi's team, to say the least:
- last weekend it lost 3-1 at KV Kortrijk. Through 2 goals by Ferri and 1 by De Neve, the Kerels gained a three goal lead. Benito Raman pulled one in for the visitors.
- in the cup, KV Mechelen lost at Beerschot on Wednesday. Hairemans scored the opener for the visitors, but Colassin dragged out prolongations. The home team took the lead in that added time, but thanks to Bafdili the game ended in penalty shootouts, where Pflücke and Baldili both missed their penalties for KVM and saw the home team drew the longest straw.
One game in, KV Mechelen bid farewelle to goalkeeper Gaëtan Coucke, and reinforced with defender Ahmed Touba. The Club youth product played 10 games at Blauw-Zwart. In addition, striker Benito Raman also joined forces.
Raman is Malinwa's top scorer with 5 goals. Patrick Pflücke & Nikola Storm already set up a teammate for a goal 4 times.
In 6 of their last 7 home games against Club Brugge, KV Mechelen could not find their way to the nets. But in their 19 last home matches in the Jupiler Pro League (50 goals), they were able to score on each occasion.
Coach Besnik Hasi is the longest-serving coach in the Jupiler Pro League after the dismissal of Miron Muslic at Cercle.
KV Mechelen has the second most senior starting eleven in the Jupiler Pro League with an average age of 26.64 years, only outdone by Antwerp (26.67). With Mrabti, Schoofs, Storm, Hairemans and Raman, 5 thirty-somethings participated in the last matches.
Milestones
- Joël Ordóñez can play his 50th match for Club Brugge!
- Hugo Vetlesen can play his 50th league match for Blauw-Zwart.
- Gustaf Nilsson is awaiting his 10th JPL match for Club.
Total stats:
First Division: 119 duels, 65 wins for Club, 26 draws and 28 defeats, 248 goals for and 128 against
Second Division: 6 duels, 2 wins for Club, 2 draws and 2 defeats, 11 goals for and 10 against
Cup: 11 duels, 5 wins, 3 draws and 3 defeats for Club, 23 goals for and 19 against
TOTAL: 136 duels, 72 wins, 31 draws, 33 defeats for Club, 282 goals for and 157 against
The Man in Black
Mr. Bram Van Driessche has been appointed for this game, with his linesmen Mr. Yves De Neve and Mr. Wouter Cochet, and fourth official Mr. Hannes De Couvreur. In charge of VAR is Mr. Nicolas Laforge, assisted by Mr. Romain Devillers and Mr. Carlos-Manuel Serra Guerreiro Alho.
The 39-year-old ref will lead an official Club match for the 31st time. 15 previous away matches ended in eight wins, four draws and three defeats. Of 25 previous matches he whistled from Malinwa, Van Driessche hosted them 18 times (11W 3D 4L).
In 2022 he already whistled once duel between Club and Malinwa. At Jan Breydel it was 2-0 for Blauw-Zwart.
