Genk’s teenage star grabs first top flight goal as league leaders overcome injure ravaged Anderlecht | OneFootball

Genk’s teenage sensation Konstantinos Karetsas grabbed his first goal in the top flight of Belgian football as Genk beat Anderlecht 2-0 on Sunday afternoon. The 17-year-old was given a start by Thorsten Fink and was a joy to watch during the 75 minutes he was on the pitch. Karetsas is highly rated by the club and burst onto the scene last season in the second tier, where he scored six times and grabbed four assists for Jong Genk. Over the summer Fink promoted him to the senior side.

In truth, Genk were deserving winners against an Anderlecht side ravaged by injuries. Key players are missing, such as Mario Stroeykens, Killian Sardella and Jan Vertonghen. Goalkeeper Colin Coosemans was kept busy in the first half to keep out Tolu Arokodare and wing-back Zakaria El Ouahdi. However, he could do little to top Tolu opening the scoring from a well placed cross from the aforementioned El Ouahdi.

It took Genk a while to finally get the second. Karetsas looked to have gotten it before the offside flag cut short his celebrations. However, when Genk won the ball back on the half-way line, they were able to spring a counter attack that ended with Tolu supplying Karetsas to slot home his first goal at senior level.

The result means that Genk have put their previous weekends 2-0 defeat to Club Brugge behind them. The home side also set a club record for most wins at home in a row at nine. For Anderlecht it ends a long unbeaten run. They face newly promoted Dender on the 27th of December, while Genk travel to Antwerp on Boxing Day.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson