Anderlecht back in the running for the title

GAMES The Mauves did the "impossible" yesterday. For the first time since 2015, a Belgian club managed to win in Bruges. Anderlecht beat the Brugians with 1-2 in a very exciting match, especially due to the contributions of the VAR (Video Assistant Referee).

The match started 20 minutes too late due to problems with the VAR (no image feed). Once started, Anderlecht left the ball mainly to Bruges in the first half, but did have the best chances nonetheless. The first one was for Teodorczyk after a good action of Markovic. The Polish striker failed in front of goalkeeper Gabulov though. Markovic was unable to score in the rebound. The only chance for Bruges came with a shot from distance. Though the home side claimed a penalty when Gerkens made a foul at the edge of the box. The referee and the VAR didn't intervene. Two minutes before the break, referee Visser gave a penalty for hand play by Sa. Though the VAR correct the referee: no penalty and 0-0 at half time.

The second half started with a quickly fading home offensive, rapidly taken over by Anderlecht. A goal was the result: Teodorczyk placed the ball under the body of the blundering Gabulov: 0-1. The replay shows that Teodorczyk might have been offside, but the VAR didn't take action. Not much later, Morioka doubled the lead with a header on a corner kick: 0-2. 

Bruges never managed to take the match under control, so the 1-2 scored by Diaby was a surprise. Goalkeeper Sels saved Vossen's first attempt and also appeared to be saving Diaby's effort. Yet it was impossible to say whether the ball had crossed the goal line or not. Referee Visser checked the TV images and decided to go for a goal anyway. Bruges never came close to the equaliser though. In stoppage time, Dennis tried to get a cheap penalty with a dive, but the VAR correctly decided it wasn't worth a penalty.

With Anderlecht's victory, the difference is now 2 points. Standard are also 2 points behind Anderlecht. The race for the title will be decided by one of these three clubs.