The quarterfinals of the Champions League in 1993 were played in a group format (in two groups). In the first two rounds, Anderlecht had easily overcome Finnish side HJK and Czech team Sparta Prague. In the first match of the quarterfinals, the Brussels club held the eventual champions AC Milan to a 0-0 draw. Read more »
Aruna Dindane, born on November 26, 1980, in Abidjan, moved to Anderlecht in 2000. Dindane made his debut on September 19 in the Champions League and initially remained in the shadow of the successful striker duo Koller-Radzinski. On March 14, he scored his first Champions League goal, against Real Madrid. Aruna would later develop into an absolute dribbling sensation at the then Vanden Stock Stadium. Read more »
Georges Heylens had his testimonial match at Anderlecht in 1970, as was customary when a player had spent ten years at the club. At that time, however, he had just lost his place in the starting lineup. On November 18 of that year, the purple and white team won 3-1 against Manchester City. Read more »
Who still remembers Herbert Neumann? For many fans, the name might still ring a bell, but probably for the wrong reasons. Neumann was, in fact, the head coach with the shortest tenure at Anderlecht. Read more »
Anderlecht drew 0-0 against PSV in the second round of the last edition of the European Cup I in 1991. The return match at the Astridpark brought a 2-0 victory on 6th November 1991. Afterwards, a group stage followed as the quarterfinals. Read more »
On October 23, 2013, Anderlecht was completely dismantled in the Champions League by PSG, or more precisely by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The striker scored no less than four goals (with Cavani adding the fifth), including several world-class strikes. Among them was a goal scored behind his standing leg, and another where he blasted the ball from over 25 meters, hitting the top corner with incredible power. He received a standing ovation from the home crowd - something few Anderlecht opponents can claim. Ibrahimovic later called it a magical moment. He was surprised by the applause from the home fans but applauded back to the crowd after the final whistle.
Anderlecht finished bottom of the group that season with only one point. PSG topped the group ahead of Olympiakos. Benfica finished third and moved on to the Europa League. Purple and white conceded quite a few goals during that campaign, with the home match against the Parisians standing out. At home against Benfica, there could have been more: Anderlecht took the lead, but a goal from Matic and an own goal by Mbemba put the Portuguese side ahead. Bruno equalised, but in the final minute, the Lisbon club snatched the win. The only point came away at — indeed — PSG. Demy de Zeeuw gave Anderlecht the lead halfway through the second half, but the inevitable Zlatan soon levelled. Read more »
In 2015, Tottenham had risen to become an absolute European top club. On October 22, 2015, Anderlecht faced them in the group stage of the Europa League. Purple and white fell behind after just 4 minutes thanks to a goal from Eriksen, but they fought back. Guillaume Gillet equalized 10 minutes later, and Okaka scored the winning goal a quarter of an hour before the end. Read more »
On October 17, 2011, a highlight was made at the Vanden Stock Stadium: Anderlecht completely dismantled a powerless Standard and won 5-0. Jovanovic, Gillet, Mbokani, Suarez, and Wasilewski from a penalty scored the goals of the evening. Standard was actually quite lucky, as Ciman clearly cleared the ball off the goal line on what would have been the 2-0, but neither the referee nor the linesman said a word. Read more »
