A stunning fixture on Match Day Four in the Champions League League Phase as Club Brugge takes on giants and reigning Spanish champions FC Barcelona at Jan Breydel.
THE FIXTURE
Club Brugge's 381th game in Europe has been highlighted for some time now, as FC Barcelona heads for Jan Breydel to compete in its 622nd European game, which will be the 130th time a Belgian and a Spanish side cross swords on the European theatre. Celebrating its 116th UEFA Champions League game (78 in the group stages), Cub is in its 12th CL group campaign, while FC Barcelona has featured in 30 so far. 78 group stage games also means Club equals the Belgian record set by Anderlecht in 2017.
For the fifth time in history, the two teams will be meeting. The third round of the UEFA Cup set the stage for the very first encounter back in 2000, as Club Brugge lost 0-2 at home after goals by Rivaldo and Kluivert, followed up with a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou, courtesy of Gert Verheyen making up for a Rivaldo spot kick for Barcelona. Two years down the road, the two teams faced each other again, this time in the Champions League Group stages, with two wins for Barcelona as a result: 3-2 at Camp Nou (Enrique, Mendieta and Saviola, and Simons (penalty) and Englebert for Club Brugge) and 0-1 at Jan Breydel through Riquelme. The game was also a watershed moment for the Catalans, with Andrés Iniesta making his club debut at Jan Breydel.
It's not only on the official stage that the two teams competed. In August of 1991, Barcelona agreed to a friendly a the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Club Brugge, the game ending in 1-1 after goals by Vital Borkelmans and Hristo Stoichkov. In 32 earlier Spanish encounters in Europe, Club won 7 times, drew four and lost 5. The record in the UCL is 1W5D4L. FC Barcelona will be playing a Belgian outfit for the 20th time on Wednesday, earning them 4 wins and 5 defeats on Belgian turf.
A number of players wore the two jerseys at some point in their careers. Fernand Goyvaerts, a truey Club youth product, made his debut exactly 70 years ago, playing 138 games (48 goals) at Club before making the move to Barça in 1961, where he wore the famed jersey 25 times. Another Club legend, Eidur Gudjohnsen joined Barcelona from 2006 until 2009, playing 114 games and scoring 19 times. Later on, he played at Club Brugge for 48 games. A La Mesia product, Víctor Vázquez joined the seniors in three games before he joined Club to score 25 goals in 173 games for the Belgian side. In a more recent past, Ferran Jutglà had nine Barcelona games under his belt before he made the move to Belgium to score 40 goals in 148 games. Ludovit Reis and Victor Barbera were both contracted by Barça but never made an official debut. A striking fact is that only two Belgian players ever wore the Barcelona jersey: the aforementioned Fernand Goyvaerts and Thomas Vermaelen.
THE OPPONENT
Since 2024, a German coach has been at the helm at FC Barcelona. 60 year old Hans-Dieter “Hansi” Flick made quite the mark as midfielder at Bayern Munich, where he played for five seasons. After his active career, an impressive coaching career followed with stints at among others TSG Hoffenheim, Bayern Muncih and Die Mannschaft. An exceptional year was 2019-2020 as Bayern went on to win the treble: Bundesmeister, Cup winners and UEFA Champions League winners. Outdoing Real Madrid by four points, Flick lead Barcelona to its 28th league win, with the proverbial cherry on top in a 32nd Copa del Rey, beating that same Real in the Final. The UCL League Phase saw Barça come in second, overcoming Benfica and Borussia Dortmund, but faultering in an absolutely spectacular Semi Final against Inter, with 13 goals across the two encounters.
Individual highlights were for Robert Lewandowski scoring 42 in 52, while Raphinha not only scored 34 times, but also produced 26 assists, followed by Lamine Yamal with 25. FC Barcelona, founded in 1899, is still one of the world's most successful club teams with five Champions League wins (1992, 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2015), four Europacup II-trophies and vijf UEFA Super Cups. The team currently plays its home fixtures at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium, with Camp Nou going through a thorough renovation works due to be completed after the current season.
Eleven match days down the track, Barça is in second place in La Liga, five points behind leaders Real Madrid. A defeat in El Clásico was followed up over the weekend with a 3-1 win against Elche, through goals by Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford. Top scorers at Barcelona are currently Rashford, Ferran Torres and Fermín López with six goals, while Rashford also bests his colleagues with seven assists. The Champions League campaign started out well for Barcelona with six out of nine: a 1-2 win at Newcastle (2x Rashford) was followed up with a home defeat at the hands of PSG (1-2), while Olympiacos was sent packing (6-1) courtesy of a Fermín López hattrick and a brace by Rashford.
A star studded selection at Barcelona, comprising of 17 internationals from 10 countries: Pedri, Gavi, Lamine Yamal, de Jong, Jules Koundé, Lewandowski and Rashford among them. Last Summer, Barça signed goalkeeper Joan García and forwards Marcus Rashford and Roony Bardghji, sending Ansu Fati and Iñigo Martínez off. Fun fact: Rashford already played Club very recently with Aston Villa in the Champions League. Lewandowski is no stranger to Jan Breydel either, featuring in a Lech Poznan side playing Club in the Europa League Play-Offs back in 2009.
Unbeaten in the last four CL Group Stage games, Club Brugge suffered a hefty 4-0 defeat at Bayern Munich. Five players join the top scorer's title in Europe so far. With the return of Raphael Onyedika, the sick ward is emptying further.
MILESTONES
- Hans Vanaken is up for a 530th official game at Club Brugge.
- For Joaquin Seys, this could be his 60th game at Club.
- Playing time for Hugo Siquet means he will be in his 40th game at Blue & Black.
- Lynnt Audoor and Aleksandar Stanković both could be playing for Club a 20th time.
- A possible 25th game in Europe for Kyriani Sabbe.
- Christos Tzolis and Jorne Spileers might be playing their 20th European game for Club.
- Magic 100 for Hans Vanaken as our Mister Europe will be adding a 94th game at Club after having featured in Europe six times while at Sporting Lokeren.
- For Raphael Onyedika, this could be the 20th time he features in the UEFA Champions League (excl. prelims) while at Club. This puts him alongside Ferran Jutglà in eighth place of all time Club matches in the UCL.
THE MAN IN BLACK
An English referee for tonight's thriller against FC Barcelona: Mr. Anthony Taylor will be backed by his linesmen Mr. Gary Beswick and Mr. Adam Nunn, with Mr. Christopher Kavanagh as fourth official. In charge of VAR will be Mr. Stuart Attwell, assisted by Scotsman Mr. Andrew Dallas. A 47 year old UEFA Elite ref, Mr. Taylor has been in charge of Premier League games since 2010, leading European games since 2013. He was the one in charge during the 2023 UEL Final between Sevilla and AS Roma, and also featured at the 2024 Euros in Germany, the 2020 Euros (throughout Europe) and the 2022 WC in Qatar. For the fourth time he will be in charge of a game featuring Club Brugge: UEL-prelims against WKS Śląsk Wrocław (Pol) in 2013, UCL group stage vs S.S. Lazio (Ita) in 2020 and last season's UCL league phase game vs Sporting Lissabon (Por).