Besnik Hasi is determined to ensure that everyone in Mechelen stays alert. Even Bilal Bafdili, perfectly suited to the game, was called to order.
Mechelen had difficulty getting going against Kortrijk. But the opening score just before the break freed everyone. Besnik Hasi’s men finally won 3-0. Enough to delight the Albanian coach.
“In the second half we were a lot more dynamic, we put players between the lines and found spaces in the box. I want to congratulate my group, because even the newcomers handled things well in terms of automatisms. It’s a good thing, knowing that we still have injuries in defense” explains Hasi.
Offensively, Bilal Bafdili (20 years) manifests itself more and more. The attacking midfielder replaced Kerim Mrabti in the first half and scored in the second. Before the break, he had already scored coming off the bench against Louvain.
Bafdili, a name to follow in the coming weeks
“He’s a young player, he doesn’t do everything perfectly either. At one point he was sleeping. It’s something he needs to work on. We have guys with a lot of quality in these positions, there is enormous competition” warns him Besnik Hasi.
Bafdili arrived in Mechelen at 16 from Standard. The Charleroi native trained in Liège for a year, also attending the Beveren and AFC Tubize training centers.
He did not come into the game in easy conditions: Mrabti was evacuated after a collision with goalkeeper Patirk Gunnarsson. An initial MRI revealed that Mrabti had broken a rib. For fear of a pneumothorax, the Swede spent the night in hospital. “It was a bit complicated, because I didn’t know straight away whether I should come on or not,” Bafdili recalls.
