Bad Anderlecht eliminated in Cup

After the Champions League elimination, the Belgian Cup is also over. Another weak performance led to a 2-2 score after extra time and ended in a new penalty debacle. Second division team Westerlo advances.


An uninspired Anderlecht were already trailing after 10 minutes. MacDonald managed to avoid the offside trap and scored. The Mauves didn't do much. They had a lot of ball possession but, rarely the last pass was good. Westerlo defended well and counter attacked when they had the chance. At half time, the 1-0 lead was more than logical.

With some luck, Anderlecht equalised right after the break. A centre of Bruno changed direction and fell into the goal. The Belgian champions raised pressure but it didn't come to many open chances. Only at the end of the second half, the crossbar and the upright kept Westerlo in the match. The home team kept counter attacking well and also had several opportunities.

In the extra time, Westerlo came one up again. Anderlecht equalised with ten minutes left via Bruno. From then on, the home team even mounted the pressure. Anderlecht needed a large amount of luck to make it into the penalty shoot-out, which ended in another drama. The first three penalties went in for both sides. Kaminski saved the fourth one and gave Anderlecht a bonus. Anderlecht's two newcomers, Milivojevic and Mitrovic, wasted that bonus with two extremely weak efforts. Maybe it's time to finally start training on penalties?

The winter break is closing and without some serious reinforcements, this season will be a lot one. Even a European ticket is going to be extremely difficult to win...