I must admit: I know nothing much about Belgian champions Club Brugge. But after this Europa League Round-of-32 1st Leg affair with mighty Manchester United; I know them a lot better.
And so it became that they nearly managed to produce an almighty upset; scoring first through energetic forward Emmanuel Bonaventure before conceding an equaliser later in the first half from Anthony Martial. And it must be said that both goals were rather strange. The first from Brugge was almost a joke in itself. A goal-kick pumped forward by ex-Liverpool 'keeper Simon Mignolet was allowed to bounce by the back-pedaling United defence; and with Sergio Romero in no-man's land; Bonaventure lobbed the ball over him into the unguarded net.
The equaliser was just as bad. 19-year-old left-back Maxim De Cuyper; who had a decent game otherwise; produced a shocking throw-in into his own half that Brandon Mechele suicidally allowed to run; allowing nippy Martial to intercept and power his way through for the equaliser. It was quite tragic as the home team had till then more or less controlled the game and looked good for an upset.
Special mention to Bonaventure though: the pacy forward was superb in this match; hustling and harrying his way through; and creating loads of problems for the United backline with his power and work-rate.
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