Anderlecht v OL: Léo Petrot recalls derby, Vitor Bruno on Fonseca as player | OneFootball

Anderlecht welcome OL to Lotto Park on Wednesday for matchday one of the Europa League, with Vitor Bruno recalling Paulo Fonseca as a player and Léo Petrot reflecting on the derby rivalry.

According to Le Progres, the 43-year-old coach was appointed this summer after a spell as Porto’s head coach, having previously assisted Sergio Conceicao across Portugal and at Nantes in 2016-2017.

Bruno told his squad this week that he first knew Fonseca when he was nine or ten, because Fonseca played for his father Vitor Manuel’s Belenenses side. Vitor Manuel also coached in Coimbra, Braga, Leiria and Mozambique from the 1980s to 2015.

He framed the meeting as a young coach against a highly experienced counterpart who took Paços de Ferreira to third place, won the Super Cup with Porto and the Cup with Braga, then worked at Shakhtar, Roma, Lille, Milan and now Lyon. Both prefer possession, and he said they will see how that plays out.

He praised OL as battling for the Champions League with options to change structure from match to match. He plans continuity in his XI despite Giulian Biancone’s injury and Ilias Koutsoupias being ineligible.

OL are expected to rotate heavily, with only Niakhaté, Morton and Openda likely to keep their places. Petrot, a native of Saint-Etienne, said the rivalry is always special and he remembers assisting Stassin in 2024-2025. Now at Anderlecht, he stressed the focus is on the job, with a major test against a Lyon side that topped their group last season.

Source: Le Progres

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