Verbruggen: "This is what you dream of as a kid"

INTERVIEWS With three penalties stopped in three Bulgarian attempts, Bart Verbruggen was the purple-and-white hero of the evening. Afterwards, he was therefore heavily solicited by the media. "Going through every round after penalties? You won't hear me complaining then."


"These are the things you dream away about as a kid, before you become a footballer," Verbruggen told reporters after the match. "I am happy that I was able to help the team today and that we are through to the next round. That is most important."

"Too early to call me a specialist"

People often say that penalty kicks are a lottery, but Verbruggen and Anderlecht are already doing everything they can to bend that lottery to their will. "The whole staff is working on it tremendously," Verbruggen said. He told how he gets tips on the opponent's penalty takers. "So from some players I had an inkling where they would kick, but you are never sure. It's always a game between the kicker and the goalkeeper. I tried to put the initiative with them and fortunately that worked."

"Whether I am a penalty specialist? I haven't experienced it much in my still young career. So whether I can already call myself a specialist, I don't know. It has gone that way twice now and succeeded twice (also against Lierse in the Belgian Cup, ed.). I hope I can continue like that."

"Luckily we did score them"

"Of course we try to finish it off before the penalties. Or even for the extensions. And if it has to be with extensions in the extensions. But that didn't work out. Then it's nice that we have enough guys who can keep their cool and kick a penalty inside. That's a quality of the team."

"Fortunately, we scored our first three penalties. Otherwise we didn't have much use for my saves," Verbruggen said. "After my third save, the realization came that we would go through if Yari scored. Fortunately, he did."

"Everyone is eager to learn"

"We knew beforehand that they defend well and counter well, we saw that in the away game too," Verbruggen said of the match itself. "Then too we had the upper hand with more ball possession and more chances. Only they were dangerous on the counter. So we knew that would happen again today."

Despite the high pressure, Anderlecht always kept trying to play out of football. Sometimes to the edge. "We will analyse that to keep improving this as a team. That's the nice thing about this team: everyone is happy, but also very eager to learn. That gives good hope."

"Enjoying fans chanting my name"

As early as next week, the 1/8th final awaits. "You always have ambition. Otherwise you don't play for Anderlecht. But we look at it match by match. Now we first have an important game against Standard on Sunday. Who I hope to draw? Doesn't matter. And if we get through via penalties every round, you won't hear me complain."

But first, enjoy it. "Fantastic when the fans chant your name afterwards. I really appreciate that support. And then I want to give them something back."