For its comeback following the truce due to the World Cup, Standard was humiliated by Antwerp in the round of 16 of the Belgian Cup (4-0) following a missed meeting from start to finish.
Belgian football resumed its rights this Tuesday evening with the first knockout stages of the Belgian Cup. In one of the posters of the week, Antwerp with four holders aged 21 or less welcomed Standard with the ambition of erasing the slap suffered in the league (3-0).
The first ten minutes are rather to the advantage of Rouches but domination remains very sterile. However, the first opportunity is Antwerp and sets the tone. After a very good footballAlderweireld, Come in tries his luck but doesn’t fit. However, he is in an offside position (13th). This is not the case of Bataille a few minutes later. All alone in the large rectangle, the former Ostend player has plenty of time to get back on his right foot and roll the ball out of reach of Bodart (16e).
In the minutes that followed, the club with number 1 did not lower the flag and continued to create opportunities like via Muja just next door (19th), Frey slightly above the bar (21st) or Valencia whose heavy strike is countered by Bodart (37th). On the Liège side, the only real chance comes in added time via Canak (45e+2).
Upon returning from the locker room, Steng launches Frey in the depth. The Swiss finds himself in a very good position in the large rectangle but sees his shot hit the post (47th). On the verge of a knockout, Standard remains alive, but not for long.
No more convincing than in the first half, Standard offers nothing and even sees its opponent take off, one following the other. Not under enough pressure in the large rectangle, Muja addresses a cross shot which finds Frey on the trajectory. With a little success, the attacker deceives Bodart, it’s 2-0 (53rd). In great shape, the Swiss then played very easily once morest the Liège defense before Dussenne succeeds in dispossessing him of the ball with a fine tackle. Problems: Bodart had come forward and the ball returned to Muja’s feet who only had to send the leather quietly into the net. 3-0 and the Rouches don’t deserve better.
Down in the hole, Standard digs its own grave even deeper when Dussenne is excluded for two logical yellow cards (65th). Unsurprisingly, the festival does not stop there. Completely apathetic, the players of Ronny Deila do not revolt and do not even fight to win duels. Completely overwhelmed, they let the Antwerpers build quietly to allow Stengs to put his little goal, well helped by the deviation of Bokadi (79e).
On the street the whole match, Standard came out of the Belgian Cup with their heads very low. After losing its last two league matches, the Liège club can no longer hope to win a title and will absolutely have to wake up this Friday evening on the lawn of La Gantoise in the league to avoid seeing the crisis return. Opposite, Antwerp is off to a good start for this second part of the season which will only continue next Tuesday at Westerlo.
