‘Luckily for us, it goes in’: Maxim De Cuyper’s late penalty shows the fine margins involved in this years title race | OneFootball

Maxim De Cuyper was counting his blessings after his late penalty secured a pivotal victory for Club Brugge in the race for the Pro League title. The defender’s spot kick was almost saved by young Genk goalkeeper Mike Penders. Despite a fantastic performance, Penders was just unable to keep the ball out and as a result his sides lead in the title race has been cut down to just a single point. As De Cuyper said after the game to Het Niuewsblad ‘It was a bad penalty. I had a corner in mind beforehand, but Penders had one too. He could have had my ball. Luckily for us, it goes in‘.

This was always going to be a pivotal game in the title race for Club Brugge and their best chance of putting real pressure on Genk going into the rest of the play-offs. It means that the top three in this years title race are all separated by just three points, with Genk on 40 in first and Union St Gilloise on 37 in third. Genk face an in form Union next weekend and will be desperate to avoid defeat.

Club Brugge have set themselves up perfectly for next weekend. While the two in and around them will take points off of each other, they face a Gent side that has struggled recently, with juts two wins in their last five games, both of which came against Antwerp. They failed to score against either Genk or Union.

There are still plenty of twists and turns to come in the race for the Pro League title, but at the moment it feels like the momentum may well be with Club Brugge.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson