If he were to contribute to a goal against KV Mechelen, he would do so for the 230th time (134 goals + 95 assists)!
Club has already scored 34 times this season, better than all other teams. KV Mechelen is the third best with 32 goals scored. Club could score in 17 of their 18 away games in the JPL in 2024. That is the most of any team.
If Club Brugge doesn’t lose behind the Barracks, then so be it 10 official matches in a row undefeated.
The opponent
On Saturday, KV Mechelen will host Club Brugge for the first away match of the second round. After 16 match days, Malinwa is in a nice 5th place, just 6 points behind Club Brugge.
KV Mechelen already scored 16 out of 24 at home, only KRC Genk (22), Club Brugge (17), Union (17) and Standard (17) scored more points at home. Malinwa has been undefeated at home for 6 matches in the JPL. In his last 5 official matches, Malinwa was only able to win once (3-0 vs Beerschot).
The past week was one to quickly forget for coach Besnik Hasi’s team:
- Last weekend they lost 3-1 at KV Kortrijk. The Guys gained a triple lead through 2 goals from Ferri and 1 from De Neve. Benito Raman saved the honor for the visitors.
- KV Mechelen lost in the cup on Wednesday at Beerschot. Hairemans was able to give the Kakkers the lead, but Colassin pulled off extra time. The home team took the lead in extra time, but thanks to Bafdili it went to penalties. Pflücke and Baldili missed their penalty for KVM and so the home team won.
After the mutual match in the first match, KV Mechelen said goodbye to goalkeeper Gaëtan Coucke. At the end of the transfer period they strengthened themselves with defender Ahmed Touba. The Club youth product played 10 times for Blauw-Zwart. In addition, attacker Benito Raman also arrived.
Raman is Malinwa’s top scorer with 5 goals. Patrick Pflücke & Nikola Storm have already set a teammate on the way to a goal 4 times.
In 6 of their last 7 home games against Club Brugge, KV Mechelen could not find their way to the net. But in their last 19 home matches in the Jupiler Pro League (50 goals) they were able to score every time.
After the dismissal of Miron Muslic at Cercle, coach Besnik Hasi is the longest-serving coach in the Jupiler Pro League.
KV Mechelen has the second oldest starting eleven in the Jupiler Pro League with an average age of 26.64 years. Only Antwerp’s (26.67) is even older. With Mrabti, Schoofs, Storm, Hairemans and Raman, 5 people in their thirties participated in the last matches.
Milestones
- Joël Ordóñez can play his 50th match for Club Brugge!
- Hugo Vetlesen can play his 50th competition match for Blauw-Zwart.
- Gustaf Nilsson awaits his 10th JPL match for Club.
Total statistics:
First Division: 119 matches, 65 wins for Club, 26 draws and 28 defeats, 248 goals for and 128 against
Second Division: 6 matches, 2 wins for Club, 2 draws and 2 defeats, 11 goals for and 10 against
Cup: 11 matches, 5 wins, 3 draws and 3 defeats for Club, 23 goals for and 19 against
TOTAL: 136 matches, 72 wins, 31 draws, 33 defeats for Club, 282 goals for and 157 against
Referee
Bram Van Driessche was appointed as ref for this match. Yves De Neve and Wouter Cochet are the line judges. Hannes De Couvreur is the fourth man. The VAR is Nicolas Laforge, assisted by Romain Devillers and Carlos-Manuel Serra Guerreiro Alho.
The 39-year-old ref will officiate an official Club match for the 31st time. The previous 15 away matches ended with 8 wins, 4 draws and 3 defeats. Van Driessche was a guest with them 18 times in the 25 previous matches he refereed for Malinwa (11W 3D 4L).
In 2022 he already refereed a match between Club and Malinwa. Jan Breydel then made it 2-0 for Blauw-Zwart.
