Casper Nielsen comes off the bench to grab huge Champions League victory for Club Brugge | OneFootball

Club Brugge grabbed a huge victory on Tuesday night in the Champions League. The Belgian champions all but secured their passage through to the next round with a 2-1 win over Sporting at home. Danish midfielder Casper Nielsen came off the bench to grab a crucial goal with almost his first touch of the game.

Club went behind early as they appeared happy to sit back against their Portuguese opponents. After an initial shot by Maximiliano Araujo hit the post, Mozambique winger Geny Catamo was on hand to tuck home the opener. However, Club have been resilient in this years competition and fought back. Andreas Skov Olsen did well out wide and his pull back found Greek international Christos Tzolis. The former Norwich man saw his shot deflect off of Eduardo Quaresma and into the back of the net.

Sporting could easily have had a penalty, but VAR decided that the tackle from Maxim De Cuyper took place outside of the box. Sporting then lost Quaresma just before half-time after a clash of heads with Tzolis. Just before half-time the Greek forced goalkeeper Franco Israel into a point blank save after a fantastic pass in the box from Hans Vanaken.

Nicky Hayen then brought on Casper Nielsen with just under 10 minutes to go. The 30-year-old latched onto a Hans Vanaken pass just a few minutes later to slot home the winner for the Belgian side. The win means that Club have won three of their six games in the newly revamped league format and sit level on points with Sporting on 10. With Manchester City and Juventus to come, this really was a crucial win for the side as they hope to make the next round.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson