Soccer Football - Champions League - Club Brugge v Sporting CP - Jan Breydel Stadium, Bruges, Belgium - December 10, 2024 Club Brugge's Casper Nielsen celebrates after the match with teammates REUTERS/Johanna Geron
BRUGES, Belgium (Reuters) - With a tough programme of fixtures to follow, Club Brugge knew they needed a home win over Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday to keep alive their Champions League hopes and did so with minutes to spare as they came from behind to win 2-1.
Victory catapulted the Belgian club up the standings to 14th place with 10 points from their six games, which will likely be enough for a top 24 finish and progress to the knockout stages.
Their last two group fixtures next month are against Juventus and Manchester City, where points will be hard to come by, so when substitute Casper Nielsen fired his team ahead in the 84th minute it set off furious celebration at the Jan Breydelstadion.
"It was wonderful to see how happy the supporters were," captain and goalkeeper Simon Mignolet told reporters. "Even at 36, I still had goose bumps, and that doesn't happen to me often. I am certainly very happy that I am still able to experience this.”
Getting to 10 points was always the target for Brugge, who got through the Champions League group phase two seasons ago but then fell 7-1 on aggregate to Benfica in the first knockout round.
"Okay, we don't know yet exactly whether it is enough and we still have two games to play, but who knows what is still possible if we continue on this path,” Mignolet added.
"If you have proven able to get 10 points in this new-look Champions League and in this super strong group, you can already speak of a successful campaign."
Coach Nicky Hayen hailed the comeback after Brugge had gone behind in the third minute.
"Was this the victory of willpower? Yes, definitely. It is a victory of strong mentality, but also of a group that fought for each other.
"They work very hard every day. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but that doesn't mean you don't want to give everything to achieve this."
"I told the staff that we really have to enjoy this. In the past we didn't do that enough, but almost everyone stayed in the stadium and cheered us on. Then you realise what you have achieved and that should motivate you to continue," he said at a press conference.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Sonali Paul)
