A place in the second round of the Uefa Youth League guaranteed

It was again a well-filled grandstand in our reserve stadium tonight, with a lot of German supporters. It was all about progress in Europe, with the prize on the line a place in the second round of the 'Domestic Champions Path' in the UEFA Youth League. Our youth players again finished the game clinically; following a 2-4 win in the first leg, 1. FC Köln were beaten 3-1 tonight.

There was clearly no time for the match to be eased into; after barely two minutes, Németh was able to put German goalkeeper Urbig to work. Despite this impressive start, the opening goal would come just minutes later, for the other side, as Schwirten curled a shot past our goalkeeper Leysen. Chasing the game? It was no problem for our team. Németh broke free twice in the German area and then passed to Abid. Our number ten did not hesitate to slot home, making it 1-1. I’ll have some of that, Kelvin John thought. He started off on a fine run, doing everything right but finding the back of the net. Németh was then once again very close to scoring but could not finish cleanly. At the other end, Et Taibi was just able to clear what would have been a second German goal off the line. Luca Oyen and Tuur Rommens got things up and running on the left and that again resulted in scoring opportunities: Oyen shot wide twice, and Swerts was also unable to find the frame. There were no more clear efforts at goal for the other side, leaving our goalkeeper Leysen unbothered, and halftime came with the score 1-1.

During the break, there was a bit of a fracas with some German ultras who stormed the pitch, but luckily the police - with the help of the stewards present - were soon able to prevent the situation from breaking down completely. The game resumed a few minutes later than scheduled.

Early in the second half Kelvin John turned on the afterburners and left behind three Köln players. He broke into the box and was brought down there. However, the referee thought the foul was too light for a penalty. At the other end, goalkeeper Leysen kept our team afloat a minute later with a nice diving save to deny goalscorer Schwirten. Just when the visitors seemed to be pressing for the lead, Luca Oyen took off on a dazzling run. The Genk academy product cut inside and drilled the ball hard in the bottom right corner: pure class! The visitors knew they had to answer and went all went out on the attack, but our defence held up nicely. Goalkeeper Leysen barely had to take make a save, except for claiming a corner every now and then. The visitors tried, but got nowhere. In added time, it would even be Cutillas Carpe who looked to give our team a third goal after a very nice assist from Nolan Martens, but put the ball wide. Try again then, Arabaci thought. He drew a penalty after a nice dribble, which Geusens took, scoring from the spot. The final score was 3-1, more than enough for our boys to continue their European run.

Another victory, once again showing dominant football and few chances conceded: the future is bright. On to the second round of the UEFA Youth League, in which we meet the winner of Sparta Prague - MTK Budapest.

Starting XI:

Leysen, Beerten, Et Taibi, Van De Perre, Rommens, Swerts (Cutillas Carpe 83'), John (Arabaci 83'), Geusens, Németh, Abid (El Khannous 75'), Oyen (Martens 88')

Goals

8' 0-1 Schwirten
15' 1-1 Abid
58' 2-1 Oyen
90' 3-1 Geusens (pen)