Union Saint-Gilloise routs Westerlo 1-5 ahead of Champions League return leg at Bodø/Glimt

Union Saint-Gilloise launched its Belgian Pro League season with a 1-5 victory at Westerlo on Saturday evening, three days before the return leg of their Champions League third qualifying round tie at Bodø/Glimt. Norman Bassette, back in the Belgian league, put the home side ahead with a powerful finish on a well-executed counter-attack. Promise David equalized around the half-hour mark, assisted by Besfort Zeneli's through ball, for a 1-1 halftime score. The Brussels side pulled away after the break through Raul Florucz and three substitutes who all found the net: Relebohile Mofokeng, Guilherme Smith and Darius Olaru.

Squad management with Norway in mind

Coach David Hubert, limited by injuries and illness, made five changes from the team that drew 3-3 with Bodø/Glimt in Tuesday's first leg. Ross Sykes is out for several months with an injury, and Anan Khalaili was spared through illness. With only 17 available outfield players on his European squad list, Hubert left Nikki Havenaar, Darius Olaru, Guilherme and Mohammed Fuseini on the bench to start against Westerlo. Promise David started for the first time since February after a long injury layoff. The club had also made midweek training sessions heavier during preseason to simulate the physical load of a European match week.

Am I going to make choices against Westerlo with Bodø/Glimt in mind? It would be stupid not to take it into account, as far as possible.

Second-half turnaround

Hubert explained the sluggish first half by pointing to the five changes from the previous match.

We can find several explanations. The simplest is that we lined up five new players compared to the previous match against Bodø/Glimt. In terms of automatism, we perhaps needed to find each other a bit. With and without the ball, we were a bit too disorganized. And we did not have enough quality on the ball.

Union improved sharply after the interval. Florucz scored with a slightly deflected shot around the hour mark to make 1-2, and the floodgates opened. Mofokeng, Guilherme and Olaru, all coming off the bench, added the third, fourth and fifth goals. Fuseini had missed a one-on-one chance against goalkeeper Andreas Jungdal before Guilherme curled a shot into the top corner. Olaru added a volley for 1-5. The David-Florucz pairing has now produced five goals in two matches.

I am satisfied with the reaction after halftime. We brought more quality on the ball. Now we have to maintain that for 90 minutes.

Looking ahead to Norway

The first leg against Bodø/Glimt ended 3-3 on Tuesday, leaving the tie open. Union need a positive result in Norway to advance to the Champions League play-off round. Every point in the domestic league has also taken on added importance now that the club has tasted Champions League football and the revenue it brings.

Everything is open after the somewhat crazy match on Tuesday. I think we would have deserved an advantage, but unfortunately that is not the case. Everything will be open, it will be a different match again. We have to bring the speed and confidence we can take from this match. We will give everything.

Union hosts Zulte-Waregem in the Pro League next week, while Westerlo travels to KRC Genk. Gent, also active in European qualifying, opened its league campaign with a 2-0 win over KV Mechelen through goals from Tiago Araujo and Josué Vergara.