The first matchday of the Jupiler Pro League is already behind us, and the second matchday brings a number of top fixtures. The most interesting matches are between Antwerp and Anderlecht, and between Standard Liège and Club Brugge.
New JPL Season
Last year, Club Brugge won the Belgian league title after an exciting finale. Cup winner Union, which had been leading the regular season for a long time, saw the final victory slip away. The new Jupiler Pro League season is now about a week old, but there is still a lot of action to come this year. Club Brugge will try to defend its title, Anderlecht wants to further strengthen its record as the club with the most titles, and Beerschot and Dender are making their return to the top division.
Antwerp – Anderlecht
The champion from two years ago started the first matchday with a narrow victory at Charleroi. On the Zebra’s field, Vincent Janssen scored the only goal for his team in the 10th minute. Antwerp thus begins their JPL season with 3 points, but was not yet convincing.
Last year, Antwerp seemed well on its way to defending the title. In the regular season, the team finished in 3rd place, behind Union and Anderlecht. They had only one point more than Club Brugge, so they had to share third place in the playoffs. In those playoffs, Antwerp did not play well and dropped many points, giving Club Brugge more chances to win the title. Antwerp finished at the bottom.
Anderlecht also kept it to 1-0 in their own stadium. Against the Canaries of STVV, it was Mario Stroeykens who managed to push the ball into the net only in the 92nd minute. Like Antwerp, Anderlecht also begins the new season with 3 points.
Last season, Anderlecht started the playoffs in second place. With 3 points less than leader Union and 4 points more than chasers Club Brugge and Antwerp, there was still hope for the title. On the first matchday, they could also win against Antwerp, but it was more difficult against Club Brugge. At the end of the playoffs, Anderlecht was at the top for a long time, but they still had to see Club Brugge crowned as the title winner.
The last match between these two clubs was during the final matchday of the Champion’s Play-offs, in which Antwerp could steal the 3 points from Anderlecht. At the Bosuil, Anderlecht took the lead through a goal by Anders Dreyer, but Eliot Matazo equalized. Mahamadou Doumbia and Michel-Ange Balikwisha secured Antwerp’s victory in the extra minutes.
Standard Liège – Club Brugge
Standard played its first match of the new Jupiler Pro League season on Sunday, drawing against Genk. The statistics favored Genk: with 76% possession and 20 shots throughout the match, the Genkies were the dominant players. But for the points tally, the score after 90 minutes counts most, and that said the teams had to share the points.
Last year, Standard finished 10th in the regular season. Not a good result, but all the more reason to do better this year. The 10th place was still good for the Conference League Play-offs, but Standard did not win any of their matches there, so they stayed at the bottom.
Club Brugge also kept it to a draw at home against KV Mechelen, but unlike the match at Sclessin, goals were scored: Joaquin Seys opened the scoring for the Bruggelingen, and Patrick Pflücke equalized for Mechelen a quarter-hour later.
Last year, Club Brugge needed very good football to end up on top. After the regular season, the Bruggelingen stood in 4th place, and in the playoffs, they shared 3rd place with Antwerp. Under the leadership of Nicky Hayen, they climbed all the way to first place and won the title.
The last time these two teams faced each other was on December 3, 2023. At the Jan Breydel Stadium, Club Brugge scored twice to secure the 3 points. The goalscorers that day were Igor Thiago and Philip Zinckernagel.
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