Our next opponents: Tenth attempt with a new attack

Position

Club Brugge beat city rivals and bottom-of-the-league Cercle Brugge 4-0 at home at the weekend. “It was a good test for our game against Leverkusen on Wednesday,” said goalkeeper Simon Mignolet after the fourth win on the bounce. The ‘Blauw-Zwart’ are third in the Jupiler Pro League after seven games level on points with second-placed KRC Genk and five behind league leaders Royal Antwerp.

FC Brugge were champions of Belgium last season for the third time in succession – and for the eighteenth time in the club’s history. The club were clear winners in the championship round – the final matches for the top four in a play-off format – against rivals Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, RSC Anderlecht and Royal Antwerp. Brugge lifted the title under coach Alfred Schreuder. The Dutchman, who was head coach at TSG Hoffenheim in 2019/20, has now taken over the helm at Ajax. The new Club Brugge coach is Carl Hoefkens. The 43-year-old Belgian was a player at Lierse SK and he faced Bayer 04 in the Champions League in 1997. In the first match for Leverkusen in Europe’s premier club competition it was Hoefkens who gave away a penalty with a foul on Ulf Kirsten. Stefan Beinlich converted the spot-kick to give the Werkself the crucial opener. Hoefkens has been a coach at FC Brugge since 2018 and he was the assistant to Schreuder. As the new head coach, Hoefkens won the Belgian Supercup for the club in July.

Brugge are in their tenth campaign in the Champions League. The Blue and Blacks have always gone out at the group stage to date. Last season in Group A they were up against Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and RB Leipzig. Brugge did impress in the first two games against PSG (1-1) and away to Leipzig (2-1) but they then lost the remaining four games by convincing margins and they were out of the competition in fourth place. The year before, they did lose 3-0 to Borussia Dortmund twice but did finish in third place in the group stage and then went on to lose to Dynamo Kyiv in the Round of 16 in the Europa League.

PersonNEl

There have been big changes in the Club Brugge squad. Some key performers left the club before the 2022/23 season. Above all, the transfer of the top two goalscorers last term in Charles De Ketelaere (14) and Bas Dost (12) left a gap. Top talent De Ketelaere, a homegrown player at FC Brugge, is now at AC Milan. Dost, who played for Wolfsburg and Frankfurt, signed for FC Utrecht. And central defender Stanley Nsoki, who was a key member of the Brugge team last season, is now in the Bundesliga at TSG Hoffenheim. Sargis Adamyan, who was on loan at Brugge from Hoffenheim and he scored five goals in nine games, is now at FC Köln.

Club Brugge have been able to invest a lot of money in new players. In attack, the Spaniard Ferran Jutgla was successful straight away and he is already top scorer in the Belgian league with five goals in seven games. The 23-year-old joined Brugge from Barcelona in the summer. Roman Yaremchuk only joined the Belgian side a few days ago. The Ukrainian arrived from Benfica at the end of August and he scored on Friday in his debut in a 4-0 derby victory. And the holding midfielder Raphael Onyedika (FC Midtjylland) also wore the Blue and Black shirt for the first time in that game. Another striker, the Dane Andreas Skov Olsen, joined Brugge at the start of the year and he too has been very successful. The 22-year-old has scored nine goals and provided eight assists in 16 games.

The new Danish signing Casper Nielsen, the Ghanaian Denis Odoi plus the 6 foot 4 Belgium international Hans Vanaken are the players in central midfield. The latter is the captain of the team and he has scored in Brugge’s last four Champions League campaigns with a total of nine to his credit. Also familiar from the Bundesliga is the former Hertha Berlin captain Dedryck Boyata. The 31-year-old central defender arrived from Berlin in the summer and he has made two appearances so far.

One leading player over recent seasons has been sidelined with an injury for months: The defensive midfielder Mats Rits still faces several weeks on the sidelines as he recovers from a torn cruciate. Striker Noa Lang (ankle) has also been ruled out recently. Hoefkens may also have to manage without defender Clinton Mata against Bayer 04 after he suffered an ankle injury against Cercle Brugge at the weekend.

Performers

Despite losing the top two strikers, FC Brugge still have very good players up front this term. Not just Ferran Jutgla, Roman Yaremchuk, who scored 61 goals in his four years at KAA Gent, and Andreas Skov Olsen pose a goal threat. And midfielders Hans Vanaken and Casper Nielsen have often shown their ability in front of goal. Club Brugge have scored over 70 goals in the Jupiler Pro League in both of the past two seasons.

Problems

Given the large number of changes in the squad it will take time for the team to gel. “We have welcomed a couple of new players here in the last few days. It takes time for them to find their top level, ” said goalkeeper Simon Mignolet. Coach Carl Hoefkens said after the 4-0 derby win: “As a coach, you can only be happy when the players put your game plan into action. I know we aren’t there yet. We can still find a better balance between a high press and dominant possession football.”

Prediction

FC Brugge go into the game against the Werkself in confident mood after four wins in succession. At the Jan Breydel Stadium, Bayer 04 will face a passionate crowd. “The atmosphere is always fantastic here,” enthused Casper Nielsen after the 4-0 win against Cercle. Neymar, Messi and Mbappé found it tough last year in the 1-1 draw for PSG in Bruges in the group opener. The Black and Reds will also face a tricky task on Wednesday in the opening fixture in Group B.