St. Gallen’s first Conference League opponent Cercle Brugge is very worried. But one man gives hope.
Don’t have much to cheer about in the new season
The Cercle Brugge players with goalkeeper Kévin Denkey (right).
imago images/Photo News
After 11 years, St. Gallen can once again be found in the main phase of a European club competition. Thanks to the victory in the penalty shootout of the playoff second leg in Trabzon, they qualified for the Conference League. In 2013/14 the Espen were eliminated from the Europa League in a group with Valencia, Swansea City and Kuban Krasnodar.
On Thursday, St. Gallen will be hosting Cercle Bruges at the start of the next European adventure. Last season’s fourth-place finisher in Belgium has had an even longer wait: in 1996/97 they were able to present themselves in what was then known as the European Cup Winners’ Cup. However, the season was not a good one as they were relegated in the end.
The fear of a similar scenario is also circulating this year in the Jan Breydel Stadium, which is shared with series champions Club Bruges. There have only been two wins in nine games in the Belgian league so far, and in the table they are in 14th place out of 16 teams.
TV note
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You can see a detailed summary of the Cercle Bruges – St. Gallen game on Thursday evening from 11 p.m. in the Europa League – Highlights program on SRF two. A summary will be available online shortly after the end of the game.
Coach Muslic is almost desperate
Austrian coach Miron Muslic recently raised alarm bells when Cercle got off lightly in the 2-3 win against Genk. “We simply can’t defend anymore,” said the 42-year-old.
Man of clear words
Cercle-Trainer Miron Muslic.
imago images/Belgian
Recently there has been a slight upward trend. But against St. Truiden, the second win in a row was missed due to a goal conceded in the final phase. In addition, two important players, Captain Thibo Somers and Lawrence Agyekum, were injured. You will be missing against St. Gallen.
Togolese striker as the biggest trump card
Light and shadow alternate happily for the team, which currently has an average audience of just 4,200 spectators. This was also shown by the qualification for the Conference League: Cercle could afford a 1:4 home defeat against Wisla Krakow in the second leg of the playoffs because they had won the first leg 6:1.
Kévin Denkey was also among the goalscorers at the time. The 23-year-old Togolese is one of the few assets that coach Muslic has in his squad. Last season, Denkey became the top scorer in Belgium with 27 goals. He has already netted six times across all competitions.
For St. Gallen, the guest appearance at the Jan Breydel Stadium will be the second in the European Cup: in 2000, as reigning champions under coach Marcel Koller, they were eliminated from the UEFA Cup against Club Brugge after sensationally eliminating Chelsea in the previous round.
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