Anderlecht one step closer to the CL

Anderlecht obtained a good result in the first leg of the Champions League play-off game against Partizan Belgrade. The game in Belgrade ended on a 2-2 draw. Though, seen over the whole game, the visitors deserved a win.


Anderlecht started with an usual line-up. Coach Jacobs clearly wanted to limit the space for the Serbian strikers. Unfortunately, this also meant that the Mauves had to search more than normally in the combination. The passes during the first half weren't very fluent. But the plan worked, keeping Partizan easily away from the goal. The best chances were even for the Belgian champions.

The second half seemed to be a continuation of the weak first half, but after ten minutes, Gillet came running from far outside the box on a center and headed the ball against the net: 0-1.

The visitors couldn't celebrate for long though, because just a few minutes later, Partizan equalised after a bad defending job in the central defence. Cleo appeared in front of the goal and neither Proto nor Lecjaks could prevent him from scoring: 1-1.
&llt;br>Again a few minutes later, Anderlecht even came behind. The young Czech defender Lecjaks wanted to clear a harmless center, since no Partizan striker was in the neighbourhood, around the penalty spot, but instead he kicked the ball firmly into the top corner of his own goal: 2-1.

The Mauves weren't really baffled and reacted immediately. On a free kick, Kanu was faster on the ball than goalie Ilic. He brought the ball in front of an empty goal where Juhasz scored the equaliser: 2-2.

Partizan tried to push Anderlecht back, but the Mauves easily held the draw until the end of the match.

Result: 2-2
Goals: 53' Gillet 0-1, 57' Cleo 1-1 , 63' Lecjaks 2-1, 65' Juhasz 2-2

Partizan: R.Ilic, Stevanovic, Jovanovic, Krstajic, Lazevski, Moreira (53' Smiljanic), Petrovic, Tomic (74' Davidov), S.Ilic, Iliev (87' Bogunovic), Cleo
RSC Anderlecht: Proto, Gillet, Mazuch, Juhasz, Deschacht, Lecjaks, Polak (90' Badibanga), Kouyaté, Suarez, Boussoufa (84' Marecek), Lukaku (61' Kanu)

Yellow: Gillet, Kouyaté
Red: /

Referee: Bo Larsen
Stadium: Partizana Stadium