Pressure on Genk heading into Pro League play-offs after disappointing final day draw | OneFootball

Genk missed out on the top six and the Champions play-offs on a dramatic final day in the Belgian Pro League. The side shared 10 goals with RAAL La Louviere in a crazy game that saw the struggling hosts score two late goals in extra-time. While a win for Genk would still not have been enough to find them in the top six, the result certainly sums up how their season has gone so far.

Now, Nicky Hayen and the group will be under immense pressure to win play-off two. They will be favourites, but they now face an uphill task to return to European football. Only by winning play-off two, then beating one of the sides in the champions play-offs, can the side earn one of the European tickets. Their opponents will likely be one of Gent, KV Mechelen or Anderlecht, given that those three sides occupy the bottom three spots in the top six and have been inconsistent of late.

Genk will face Westerlo, Standard Liege, Charleroi, Antwerp and OH Leuven in their play-offs. Their closest challengers will be Standard and Westerlo, but like Genk, those two have had mixed seasons so far and are inconsistent. If Genk continue to be inconsistent as well, it really could be a wide open play-offs for that final shot at a European ticket. Given it has usually been a play-off full of dead rubber games, this could at least bring some excitement for a change.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson