Standard Liege suffered a setback last weekend in their quest to gain Champions League qualification by winning the Belgian Pro-League.
Despite winning only two of their last five games, Standard won the thirty game league by four points. However, the championship in Belgium is decided after a series of ten play-off games between the top six sides. Each club begins this play- off series with half the points it achieved in the thirty game season so Standard’s lead over Club Brugge was cut to two points (34 v 32). Anderlecht had 29, Zulte-Waregem 27, followed by Lokeren 26 and Genk 23.
In the first round Standard saw off Anderlecht 1-0 while Brugge thumped Lokeren 5-1. However, last weekend our friends in Liege were beaten 2-0 at Zulte-Waregem. Although Brugge were also beaten (3-0 at Anderlecht) and remain 2 points behind, Zulte-Waregem have won both their games and are the form team and trail Standard now by only 4 points (despite finishing 13 points behind them in the “regular” thirty game season.
The good news for Standard is that their next game (Sunday 13th) is against Genk who they should beat, even though it is an away game. Zulte-Waregem play Brugge (h) on Saturday 12th followed by Anderlecht (a) on Tuesday 15th.
The play-off season runs until 18thMay. Regular updates will be posted on Castrust.org, whether fans like the network or not we think there is interest in the activities of our 'sister' clubs.