The RSCA delegation landed in Zagreb this evening with a delay of just under 2 hours. Reportedly, there was a minor technical issue with the plane, which meant the entire safety procedure had to be repeated from the beginning before the green light was given to take off. In addition, a European summit begins tomorrow in Brussels, resulting in even heavier air traffic than usual.
The players had not yet boarded at that point and were able to keep themselves occupied in the departure lounge while waiting. Incidentally, Koutsoupias—who is not eligible to play in European competition—is part of the purple-and-white delegation. CEO Kenneth Bornauw and sporting director Antoine Sibierski have also traveled to Croatia with the team, as usual. Chairman Michael Verschueren, on the other hand, has yet to make the trip. On Tuesday evening, in his capacity as vice-chairman of the ECA (the European Club Association), he was still in attendance at the Galatasaray-Barcelona Champions League match and will fly to Zagreb as soon as possible.
During the traditional press conference ahead of Thursday's match, Vitor Bruno refused to make a big deal out of the unexpected delay: “Oh well, as long as the players can eat on time and get enough rest, there's no problem.” He also candidly admitted that the Anderlecht delegation itself had arrived late at the airport after the final training session at Neerpede ran a bit over schedule.
