"Prepared him for months"

INTERVIEWS A big surprise, yesterday about an hour before the game agianst Bruges. Timon Wellenreuther had to take a seat on the bench and 18-year-old Bart Verbruggen took his place. It was not just a hunch, his debut was prepared for months, quietly in the background.

"Behind the scenes we prepared him well for this day", said Vincent Kompany, "because there is no more difficult position to launch someone. If he was the worst player on the field now, we would have stuck with our opinion, but he has played his game."