“Crazy match, but a sh*t result”: Belgian media blunt regarding Club Brugge’s ridiculous 5-5 draw with Westerlo | OneFootball

A fantastic fixture played out last night in the Belgian Pro League, as Club Brugge and Westerlo couldn’t be separated in a 10-goal game.

Josimar Alcocer’s goal in the first minute set the goal-grabbing tone, as Nacho Ferri added a second for Westerlo in first-half stoppage time. Nicolo Tresoldi continued his fine form to make it 2-1 right before the half-time whistle, before Carlos Forbs restored parity four minutes into the second period.

Blows were being traded like a heavyweight boxing bout, and Joaquin Seys gave the hosts the lead for the first time. This was then immediately cancelled out by Ferri’s second goal and Isa Sakamoto’s 68th-minute strike. An Emil Bayram own goal gave Brugge a late lead, yet this meant nothing as the same man scored in the right end for Westerlo in the 98th minute.

Het Laatste Nieuws labelled this clash a “Crazy match, but sh*t result”, airing typical Belgian pragmatism. The media were seemingly just as bemused as the players.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this before. It’s absolutely crazy”, said Nicolò Tresoldi in front of the VTM NIEUWS camera. “We have to win these kinds of games. I’m going through a lot of emotions right now. I’m happy because I scored twice, but the team comes first.”

“We gave it our all, coming back from deficits (2-0 and 4-3), but we had to stay focused until the end. We didn’t succeed. When you concede five goals, you don’t really deserve to win. We have a lot to learn from this.”

An equally emotive Nicky Hayen offered similar thoughts as his striker. “We need to find a better balance and work together. Our approach paid off; we took the risk of playing more offensively. But when you have to start over, you have to be smarter.

“It was fun to watch for the neutral player. It was a rollercoaster of emotions on both sides. You just have to win when you score five goals, although Westerlo will probably say the same. It’s incredibly frustrating that this still happened.”

While both his striker and his manager were both frustrated, captain Hans Vanaken offered a slight positive. Despite never experiencing something like this in his career, the midfielder explained, “If you take the lead in the final minutes, you have to make it last. We need to review the goals carefully, but it’s clear that we could have done better defensively.”

“If you concede five goals, you can still be happy with a draw. After going down two goals, we actually responded perfectly, but it’s just a shame we threw the victory away.”

GBeNeFN | Max Bradfield