Belgian football brought back down to earth with two Champions League defeats | OneFootball

After a historic opening week of Champions League football in which both Belgian teams won their respective games, Belgian football was brought back down to earth this week. Both Club Brugge and Union St Gilloise lost their second matches in the Champions League, although the former were much closer than the later in escaping with a well earned point.

Club Brugge were on the end of a revenge match from Atalanta. Last season Club Brugge knocked Atalanta out of the competition in the knock out stages and it looked like they would be inflicting more pain on the Serie A side when Christos Tzolis opened the scoring with a faboulous strike. However, a penalty conceded by goalkeeper Nordin Jackers and then a late goal from the excellent Mario Pasalic meant Club Brugge left Bergamo without another Champions League point. Next up for Club Brugge is a tough trip away to Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich, a game they would be more than happy to escape from with a point.

Union St Gilloise were humbled at home by Premier League Newcastle. The side were 2-0 down at half-time and ended up losing 4-0, although the decision to give a second penalty for handball seemed incredibly harsh. However, Newcastle were worthy winners and Union were shown the level they need to reach in order to compete with teams from the top leagues in this years Champions League. Next up for Union is a home clash with Inter, another tough test against a top side.

Yet perhaps more importantly for both sides, outside of the Champions League their next fixture is actually against each other on Sunday evening. It may be early days in the Pro League, but both Union and Club Brugge look to be the best two teams in the league. Sunday will be the first chance for us to assess how close to each other they actually are.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson