The Stade du Pays de Charleroi was the venue for Club's Match day 27 meeting with locals RSC Charleroi. 35 minutes into the game, Charleroi took the lead through Keita, but in a second half seeing a much more dominant Club, Brugge came alongside through a penalty goal by Tzolis. In the very last minute of added time, Ordóñez finally thumped it home to bring the full loot to Club.
It was with heads held high that Club had left the European stage only last Tuesday after a 4-1 defeat against Atlético de Madrid. Coach Ivan Leko emphasised the confidence he had in his team by only making one substitution to his Starting XI, offering Onyedika another start after his suspension on Tuesday, referring Vetlesen back to the bench. The attacking three again consisted of Forbs, Tresoldi and Tzolis.
An opening first few saw a Club immediately out on attack, but it was the home side taking care of the first goal threat after four minutes. As a free kick was headed on by Bernier, Mignolet had little trouble tapping it over his goal. Shortly after the same Bernier showed himself again, but this time he kicked wide on a pass from Romsaas. Restoring the balance in terms of ball possession, Club had trouble creating all too much as to goal threats, with the two teams well in balance halfway through.
A bad pass played in by Mignolet lead to Scheidler gaining possession, but Club's defense stood ground to dismantle the danger. Just before the half hour mark, Club's first real goal threat came, unsurprisingly, from Forbs. In his usual way, the Portuguese came inside to aim for the far corner, but his blast unfortunately went just wide of Koné's cage. The goal fell just a bit later on the other side of the pitch: Van Den Kerkhof cleverly escaping his man to go for the goal line, and putting it in front low to find Keita, who did not hesitate to fire it home past Mignolet. Club tried responding through Mechele, but the defender's header posed no problem for Koné.
The same 22 names took on the second half, with Club putting high pressure and the hosts finding it increasingly difficult to find their way through the stranglehold. Stanković in particular infiltrated well into the sixteen several times, but at this stage failed to frame his attempts. After an hour of play, a gruesome tackle by Van Den Kerkhof could only mean one thing, and a red card was the only correct decision as the fortunate Tzolis was capable to resume play after what could have been disastrous for the Greek.
A little over halfway through the second half, Club's dominance was finally rewarded: Sabbe with the ball low in front of goal where Tresoldi was tapped by Keita. Ref Verbeke hesitated at first, but then pointed to the spot anyway and got confirmation from VAR. Tzolis took up his responsibility, sending Koné the wrong way to make it all square. The visitors now started looking even more emphatically for that second (and possibly winning) goal, but Charleroi remained well organized. In minute 82, the ball went from foot to foot to find Tzolis inside the box, teeing up Onyedika for a sure goal, but somehow Koné got his hands to it. A few minutes later, the home goalie also denied Tzolis' kick. At this point, coach Leko intervened a first time with a triple substitution, bringing in Diakhon and Vermant, among others.
No fewer than eight minutes of extra time were added, and it was Charleroi that created some threat through a shot by Camara. Club responded with a shot by Diakhon wide of the goal, but the best was yet to come: in minute 100, Club passed its way towards the box, to see the ball laid back to Ordóñez, who slammed it in hard past Koné from the edge of the penalty area (1-2). A tight game for Club with a hard-fought win to top things off, helping Club inch closer to Union at the top of the table.
Jupiler Pro League - Match day 27
Audience: 15,000 - Stade du Pays de Charleroi
Referee: Mr. Bert Verbeke
RSC Charleroi: Mohamed Koné - Kevin Van Den Kerkhof, Aiham Ousou, Cheick Keita, Mardochée - Étienne Camara, Yassine Titraoui, Jakob Napoleon Romsaas (89' Patrick Pflücke) - Antoine Bernier (65' Lewin Blum), Parfait Guiagon (76' Mehdi Boukamir), Aurélien Scheidler.
Bench: Martin Delavallée, Mehdi Boukamir, Lewin Blum, Amine Boukamir, Yoann Cissé, Patrick Pflücke, Yassine Khalifi, Antoine Colassin, Filip Szymczak.
Coach: Hans Cornelis.
Club Brugge: Simon Mignolet - Kyriani Sabbe (85' Hugo Siquet), Joel Ordóñez, Brandon Mechele, Joaquin Seys (85' Mamadou Diakhon) - Raphael Onyedika (90+1' Hugo Vetlesen), Aleksandar Stanković, Hans Vanaken - Carlos Forbs, Nicolò Tresoldi (85' Romeo Vermant), Christos Tzolis.
Bench: Nordin Jackers, Jorne Spileers, Bjorn Meijer, Hugo Siquet, Hugo Vetlesen, Félix Lemaréchal, Mamadou Diakhon, Shandre Campbell, Romeo Vermant.
Coach: Ivan Leko.
Yellow: Camara, Forbs, Koné, Blum, Scheidler
Red: Van Den Kerkhof
Goals: 35' Keita (1-0), 74' Tzolis (1-1), 90+10' Ordóñez (1-2)