"If you play like today, you will win a lot of games"

INTERVIEWS A good result and an even better match. Brian Riemer was therefore a very satisfied coach after the game against Villareal. "What pleases me most today is that the result came by playing in the way we want to play.


It was a great match," Riemer said in front of Sporza's microphone. "I suggested it beforehand: two good teams who want to play good football. That can only be fun. That's how football should be, I think. I hope people enjoyed it today."

So the fans who braved the rain for 90 minutes were proven right. "I think we have the best supporters you can have. They always show up and support us all the time, even when we are 0-1 behind. They push us forward and help us when we have to catch up. Playing at Lotto Park, in this atmosphere, that's amazing."

"Overall, I am very satisfied with our performance today. We dominated for the most part and played well. Against a good team. To dominate them the whole match is maybe a bit too much to ask. But if I'm honest, I don't think we gave away many chances. What's important. At the goal, they played a counterattack very well and we didn't react sharply enough. But we came back well. And if, after half-time, one team deserved to win, it was us."

In the second half, Anderlecht was lord and master. "All credit to the players. The physical effort they put in was tremendous. How we kept pressuring them was punishment. You see that even for a good team like Villarreal, it's not easy when you're put under pressure. We kept believing in it and the crowd propelled us forward. I wanted us to have won. The result is something we can work on. We missed the big chances we had after halftime. That's a working point."

"I never thought it would be over after the outward game. I have a lot of confidence in my team. We have already shown this season that we can perform well, even against the best teams. Today confirms that. What pleases me most today is that the result came not by luck or by creeping into our own penalty area, but by playing the way we want. We showed that we are good enough to do that."

Det should give confidence for Sunday. "Self-confidence is everything in football," Riemer said. "Since my arrival, I already saw a lot of moments that should give us confidence. We already played a lot of good games. Sometimes we had some bad luck with the results. If you play like today, you will win a lot of matches. That's a great feeling for a player and a coach."