MECHELEN. Mechelen topped Kortrijk.

The match was played at the AFAS-stadion Achter de Kazerne stadium in Mechelen on Saturday and it started at 6:15 pm local time. The referee was Arthur Denil who was helped by Quentin Lesceux and Tom Vanpoucke. The 4th official was Anthony Letellier. The weather was mist. The temperature was freezing at -0.9 degrees Celsius or 30.47 Fahrenheit. The humidity was 91%.​

Match Statistics​

Ball possession

None of the teams was particularly dominant in terms of ball possession. Mechelen was in possession of the ball for 49% of the time vs. Kortrijk that controlled the ball for 51% of the time.

Attitude and shots

Mechelen was more pushing with 50 dangerous attacks and 21 shots of which 8 were on target. This is one of the reasons why Mechelen won the match​.

Mechelen shot 21 times, 8 on target, 13 off target. On the other side, Kortrijk shot 8 times, 3 on target, 5 off target.

Cards

Mechelen received 2 yellow cards (Jannes Van Hecke and Boli Bolingoli ). Regarding the opposition, Kortrijk received 4 yellow cards (João Silva, M. Wasinski, Stjepan Loncar and Pape Habib Gueye).

Standings

After playing this contest, Mechelen will have 25 points to sit in the 13th place. On the other side, Kortrijk will stay with 21 points to remain in the 14th place.

Next matches

In the next match in the Pro League, Mechelen will play away against Westerlo on the 28th of January with a 15-7 head to head in favor of Mechelen (4 draws).

Kortrijk will play away agasint Zulte-Waregem on the 24th of February with a 15-13 head to head in favor of Zulte-Waregem (9 draws).

Mechelen – Formation

Mechelen adopted the 4-2-3-1 line-up (4-2-3-1).

The manager Steven Defour decided to play with the following team: Gaëtan Coucke (6.2), Sandy Walsh (6.3), David Bates (7.1), Dimitri Lavalėe (7.1), Alec Van Hoorenbeeck (6.8), Rob Schoofs (6.6), Birger Verstraete (6.7), Geoffry Hairemans (7.1), Alessio Da Cruz (7.3), Nikola Storm (8.3) and Kerim Mrabti (8.0).

The home team had on the bench: Yannick Thoelen, Julien Ngoy (7.4), Boli Bolingoli (6.7), Bilal Bafdili, Ngal’ayel Mukau, Jannes Van Hecke (6.6) and Yonas Malede (6.1).

Mechelen could not rely on the presence of Yonas Malede (injured).

Substitutions

Mechelen made 5 changes: Alec Van Hoorenbeeck for Boli Bolingoli  (69′), Geoffry Hairemans for Jannes Van Hecke (69′), Kerim Mrabti  for Julien Ngoy  (69′), Nikola Storm for Yonas Malede (77′) and Alessio Da Cruz for Ngal’ayel Mukau (86′).

Best player: Nikola Storm​

Following our analysis, the most impressive player for Mechelen was Nikola Storm.

His rating is (8.3) with 1 goal, 23 passes (56% accurate) and 3 key passes. He was won 4 duels out of 9. He performed 3 crosses. He hit the woodwork once times.

Kortrijk – Formation

Also Kortrijk adopted the 4-2-3-1 line-up (4-2-3-1).

Bernd Storck played with: Tom Vandenberghe (6.4), Christalino Atemona (6.2), João Silva (6.1), Tsuyoshi Watanabe (7.1), Nayel Mehssatou (6.9), Stjepan Lončar (6.5), Martin Wasinski (6.6), Dion De Neve (6.1), Massimo Bruno (6.8), Faïz Selemani (6.9) and Pape Habib Gueye (7.0).

These were the players on the bench: Kristof D’Haene (6.6), Abdelkahar Kadri (7.7), Satoshi Tanaka, Felipe Avenatti (6.4), Maxim De Man, Martin Regáli and Billal Messaoudi (6.7).

Substitutions

Kortrijk made 4 changes: João Silva for Abdelkahar Kadri  (46′), Dion De Neve for Billal Messaoudi  (65′), Massimo Bruno for Kristof D’Haene (74′) and Stjepan Loncar for Felipe Avenatti (84′).

Best player: Abdelkahar Kadri​

As per our analysis, the most impressive player for Kortrijk was Abdelkahar Kadri.

His rating is (7.7) with 1 goal, 30 passes (83% accurate) and 1 key pass. He was won 5 duels out of 7.

His performance was remarkable also because he started the match from the bench before entering the filed in the 46′.

Results of the day

These are the results of the day in the Pro League.​

• Zulte-Waregem – Westerlo – 1-1
• KV Oostende – Cercle Brugge – 1-2
• Mechelen – Kortrijk – 3-2
• Union Saint-Gilloise – OH Leuven – 1-0