By Samindra Kunti
May 17 – Club Brugge have been crowned Belgian champions for the first time since 2005 after hammering arch-rivals Anderlecht 4-0 with two match days to spare.
“It was only at 3-0 that I could relax, as you know Anderlecht can always still do something at 2-0,” said Brugge coach Michel Preud’homme. “My title with Standard after 25 years was fantastic, but I have the same feelings here now. You could feel people’s hunger.”
Brugge last won a Belgian league title in 2005. Last season the club won the Belgian cup, reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League but just missed out on the championship as fatigue began to set in after a long season.
Throughout the regular 2015/16 season Brugge were remarkably inconsistent with coach Michel Preud’homme’s rotation policy eliciting much criticism from both fans and media. In the Europa League Brugge failed to get out of the group stages, suffering lackluster defeats against both Napoli and Midtjylland.
But in the second-half of the season, Brugge regained their composure, with Hans Vanaken, Abdoulay Diaby and Jose Izquierdo starring in attacking roles. They were narrowly defeated in the Belgian cup final by Standard Liege, but came good during the play-offs.
At home, Brugge trounced Anderlecht, Belgium’s most decorated club: Diaby, twice, Vanaken and 39-year-old captain Timmy Simons scored the goals that propelled Brugge to their 14th league title in an afternoon punctuated by free-flowing football on the pitch and wild celebrations in the stands.
“Today we restored our honour after 11 years without a title,” commented Preud’homme. “I really wanted to do this for the Club Brugge supporters, who are very dear to me. Even when things weren’t as good, they always supported me. It’s also fantastic that Club now will play in the Champions League.”
Mathematically, Anderlecht, Brugge’s last challenger, can still finish with the same points total, but in the event of a tied finish the Brussels-based club would be deducted a half-point – at the end of the regular season the top six club’s tallies were halved.
With the title, Brugge have ensured participation in next season’s Champions League. Last August Manchester United eliminated Brugge in the qualifiers for UEFA’s flagship club competition.
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