Conference LeagueWinning at Anorthosis Famagusta always gives AA Gent a team win. In this case, the Buffalo also collects €6.4 million in the Conference League. “But the group’s profit is more important to prestige than money,” says Michel Loage.
For a European club, it’s always a good idea to visit a southern destination at the end of November. “I traveled here feeling good,” says Michelle Loage, who leads the Buffalo delegation in Cyprus in the absence of President de Witt. “It’s clean here, isn’t it (laughs). Sportsly we are in good shape, because with the same result as Partizan in Tallinn we are the group winners.” In this case, Partizan can still beat as many points as AA Gent, but because of 4 out of 6 in mutual duels with Serbs, Buffalo takes first place in the group.
Loaje knows that “the Tallinn-Partizan match is already played at 4.30 pm”. “This means that we will know what to do before the match kicks off. In the event that Partizan loses, we will guarantee first place before we kick the ball here in Cyprus. But I honestly do not see Partizan losing. Anyway, we know before the game what we have to do to finish. first place “.
In the competition, Gent may already be up and down, with 6 wins and 2 draws in 10 matches, the Buffalos are doing well in Europe. “Our balance is positive, which is not clear if you have to enter from the second preliminary round. In 2019 we also had to do it in the European League, then we forced winter in a group with Wolfsburg and Saint-Etienne and after the new year we had some setbacks against Roma. When You have to start early and play many matches, it takes strength to get back to the level every time.”
“That’s why I’m so glad we won at Solltvargem,” Loage says. “It gives us another boost. If you look at other people’s results, you can only conclude that it was a good weekend for us. The atmosphere at the club is good and we hardly have any problems with injuries. Everything is there to achieve a good result against Anorthosis.”
Loaje finds it not clear that AA Gent can actually win the set on day five of the match: “I was a little afraid of Partizan beforehand. They’re still top in Serbia, except for the tie with Red Star, they’ve won everything there. With four out of six We did well against them. Now we want to finish it, so we go straight to the eighth finals in March. Second in the group, you get another intermediate round in February, against the Europa League clubs. We prefer not to play any extra matches, because we want to be fresh. As much as possible in the final race of the competition.”
Money is not the most important thing now, but prestige is.
If AA Gent wins first against Anorthosis, it immediately means that the Conference League has already done well for €6.4m this season. “But money isn’t the most important thing right now,” says Michel Loage. “For our prestige, we would like to be first in the group again, as in 2019. We play in Europe for seven years in a row, we have reached the group stage five times and can spend the winter for the fourth time in those seven years. It means something” .
The good European results of AA Gent are reflected in the UEFA rankings, with AA Gent ranked 56th with a score of 23,500 points. This makes it the second Belgian team in Europe after Club Brugge, who is in 37th place. AA Gent has already earned 7,000 points this season, the same as the club got before the game against Leipzig last night. In this way, the buffaloes serve not only themselves, but also Belgian football.
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