Summary Even without their targetman
Laurent Depoitre, who dropped out during the warmup, Gent started strongly as
Hendrik Van Crombrugge only narrowly reached the header by
Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui in the opening minutes, after which they took control of the match. While Anderlecht was suffering, they did create a big chance, with the deviation of
Yari Verschaeren rolling straight into
Davy Roef. It would be their only real dangerous opportunity of the first half, with other minor chances coming through an overhead kick by
Lior Refaelov, a volley by Verschaeren and a blocked shot by
Kristoffer Olsson. On the other side of the pitch, Gent remained much more threatening.
Tarik Tissoudali dribbled his way around
Lisandro Magallán, but the latter was able to stay close, not allowing Tissoudali a clean shot on goal. Then, sloppy defending by
Michael Amir Murillo gave
Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe an opportunity to shoot but his attempt went just wide. Five minutes before the break,
Roman Bezus seemingly opened the score, but his header on a cross by
Joseph Okumu was disallowed for offside. In the second half Gent immediately continued where it left off, through a header from
Julien De Sart and a blistering shot from Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe, but they did not manage to score. Anderlecht manager
Vincent Kompany tried to turn things around by bringing in
Francis Amuzu,
Majeed Ashimeru and
Benito Raman around the hour mark to allow a more direct style of play, which indeed restored the balance of play, but did not result in any chances created. The game became more fierce, with both Ashimeru and
Andrew Hjulsager having to leave the pitch injured after being substituted on earlier in the second half, and play was often stopped due to players receiving treatment. On top of this, an environmental activist had tied himself to one of the goalposts, causing a further few minutes of pause. All of this resulted in a dull second half after the initial chances. As such, it came as a surprise when at the start of extra time the game burst open again,
Núrio Fortuna missing a huge chance for Gent, heading wide, while just after that
Matisse Samoise could only narrowly intercept
Anouar Ait El Hadj who had broken through for Anderlecht. At that point it seemed the Anderlecht players were more energetic while Gent needed willpower to keep up, they could only breathe a sigh of relief when
Christian Kouamé recklessly shot over the bar. The final chance of the match was for Gent however, as
Darko Lemajić hit the underside of the bar from close range in minute 116, but the game stayed goalless. In the penalty kick sequence, Davy Roef became the hero for Gent, saving the penalty kicks by
Josh Cullen and Michael Amir Murillo, while Van Crombrugge had only been able to keep out the effort of Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui, allowing Gent to take their first trophy since their league title in 2015, while Anderlecht continued its period without silverware, last winning the
2017 Belgian Super Cup.
Details ==Notes==