KRC Genk – KVC Westerlo

This will be the 53rd time these two teams have faced each other. The last away win dates back to 2011, when we won 0-2 at the then Cristal Arena. It’s worth noting that Genk went on to win the championship a few weeks later, with Thibaut Courtois in goal and Kevin De Bruyne pulling the strings in midfield. In other words, it was quite a feat at the time, with goals from Paulo Henrique and Rachid Farssi.

Last season

We lost 1-0 after a goal in the 81st minute by Sattlberger, who had only been on the pitch for 10 seconds. Genk was already a speeding train racking up victories. Later that season, they would finish the regular season in first place, 9 points ahead of Club Brugge, but they ultimately failed to win the championship.

Current season

The best way to summarise it is as follows: last year, after 17 rounds, they were in first place with 38 points, while this season they currently have 23 points. A difference of fifteen points is significant, and this is mainly due to the fact that they have scored no fewer than 15 fewer goals. Last year, it was invariably the towering Arokodare who scored, but this season it is actually right-back El Ouahdi who is the top scorer with 4 goals in 11 matches. South Korean striker Oh has exactly one goal more, with 5 more matches on his CV than the Moroccan right-back.

In December, they played three matches in various competitions: in the Croky Cup, they lost 1-3 to Anderlecht at home after extra time, they suffered a heavy defeat at Antwerp (3-0), after having 72% possession throughout the match, creating more shots than their opponents but still having fewer expected goals, and in the Europa League they also came back empty-handed after a 1-0 defeat against Midtjylland.

Thorsten Fink’s troops will therefore be extremely motivated to secure their first points of December.

Key players Genk

Genk’s expected starting eleven consists of the following names:

Hendrik Van Crombrugge in goal, Zakaria El Ouahdi, Matte Smets, Mujaid Sadick and Adrian Palacios in defence, captain Bryan Heynen, Patrik Hrosovsky and Daan Heymans in midfield and Konstantinos Karetsas, Jarne Steuckers and Hyeon-gyu Oh as forwards.

This team has a transfer market value of 97.7 million euros, with three standouts: Karetsas (28 million), El Ouahdi (15 million) and Smets (11 million).

Referee

Michiel Allaerts will referee this match, just as he did in the first leg. He has refereed Westerlo five times in the past: at RWDM (1-1) and Dender (1-0) and at the Kuipje against Standard (0-0), KV Mechelen (0-1) and Genk (0-1). The latter two matches were this season.

It will be his second match ever at Genk, the previous one dating back to February 2024 when Genk beat RWDM 3-1.