GAMES The door to the Europa League is wide open for Anderlecht. Without ever having to floor the accelerator, a solid Anderlecht cruised to an easy 0-3 win against a weak Almaty side. Of course, this must not be allowed to go wrong at Lotto Park now. After barely two minutes, Anderlecht were already ahead again, just as they had been in Hammarby and against PAOK.
The Kazakh goalkeeper went clean under a corner, which then rolled into the net via Biancone — or perhaps an own goal. The early strike seemed to take all desire to play football out of the Kazakhs straight away, because their response was virtually non-existent.
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Continue reading Anderlecht were on cruise control and had all the time they needed to build from the back and combine. Ambros doubled the lead in the 22nd minute with a fine long-range effort. Not long after that, Almaty did finally threaten through Finland's Jukkola, but Coosemans was alert.
After Shirobokov was sent off following a VAR intervention, the red carpet seemed to be rolled out for the purple-and-whites. Sikan wasted no time walking it, heading in the 0-3 in stoppage time. After the break, Anderlecht's main task was to avoid doing anything silly. Given the scoreline, the purple-and-whites did not really push to extend the lead either.
Even without truly pushing, Anderlecht could have scored a few more after the break. Degreef had a chance in the 68th minute, but the goalkeeper saved from close range with his head. Five minutes later, Winkler was allowed to make his Anderlecht debut straight away and, with a little more composure in front of goal after his run, he could have scored instantly. Sikan hesitated just a moment too long before shooting, just like Degreef, who made too weak a finish at the end from a Bertaccini cross.
Anderlecht therefore got the job done comfortably in Almaty after the much-discussed trip, in front of 18 brave travelling purple-and-white supporters. The only downside is that Anderlecht picked up four yellow cards on the night. They can now prepare calmly for next Thursday's match, as the league game against Kortrijk has been postponed.
