OH Leuven – KVC Westerlo

No Champions League on Tuesday night, but plenty of action in the Europe Play-offs. KVC Westerlo travel to Den Dreef at 8:30 p.m. to face OH Leuven — a perfect opportunity to bounce back from the defeat against Genk with three points (and maybe a fresh Stella too).

KVC Westerlo

“Unfortunate,” was how coach Charaï described the match against Genk. “Genk were mainly dangerous on the counterattack. They also scored twice from our loss of possession. The details made the difference today. We simply need to be better on the ball,” our coach said. Charaï emphasized that it was only the third match in the Europe Play-offs — everything is still to play for. There was also a bright note: our young Portuguese talent Patrão scored his first goal for KVC Westerlo.

Following the defeat, the Kemphanen drop to second place with 26 points, level with Standard. Leaders Genk are two points ahead.

Squad:
Jungdal, Van Langendonck, Annell, Lapage, Kimura, Nsiala, Sayyadmanesh, Sydorchuk, Patrão, Bohamdi-Kamoni, Smekens, Reynolds, Mbamba, Gouré, Neustädter, Saito, Van den Keybus, Bayram, Piedfort, Alcócer, Ferri.

OH Leuven

OH Leuven had a difficult matchday, losing 2–0 away at Antwerp. They finished that game with nine players after a red card for Verstraete and a second yellow for Gil. The latter is suspended, while Verstraete is expected to be available.

OH Leuven currently sit in sixth and last place in the Europe Play-offs with 18 points. From three matches, they have collected just one point. Apart from the suspended Gil, coach Mazzu has a full squad at his disposal. Line-up last match (3-4-3): Leysen, Ominami, Nyakossi, Pletinckx, Verlinden, George, Verstraete, Gil, Maziz, Kaba, Teklab.

Our previous encounter

The last time we faced OH Leuven was on March 7. That match resulted in a narrow victory for our Kemphanen. KVC Westerlo took the lead as early as the 4th minute when a header from Bayram deflected off Ikwuemesi into his own net (0–1). OH Leuven then took control and pushed for an equalizer. Through players like Maziz, Vaesen, and Gil, the home side created several chances, but lacked efficiency. KVC Westerlo remained dangerous on the counter and nearly made it 0–2 just before halftime, but Piedfort failed to finish his chance.

After the break, the pattern remained the same. Leuven kept pressing and created more opportunities, but repeatedly ran into a strong Jungdal. Towards the end, Patrão had a great chance to seal the game at 0–2, but a Leuven defender recovered just in time to prevent it. In the end, it stayed 0–1, allowing KVC Westerlo to sneak the three points back to ’t Kuipje.

Referee

Kevin Van Damme will take charge of the match. His assistants are Lennert Jans and Tom Vanpoucke, while Klass Clerckx will act as fourth official. VAR duties will be handled by Ken Vermeiren.