Cercle Brugge humbled in Europa Conference League defeat to Vikingur Reykjavik | OneFootball

After beating St Gallen 6-2 to open their Conference League campaign, Cercle Brugge must have felt that European football wasn’t as hard as many said. However, after resting a few key players they were brought back down to earth by Icelandic side Vikingur Reykjavik. The side from the Icelandic capital have reached the group stages (or league stages) proper for the first time in their history and now have their first win. In truth, the men in red and black were good value for the 3-1 victory.

Things had started well for the Belgian side. Kazeem Olaigbe had opened the scoring and the side must have thought that the floodgates could well open, as they had in their opening game against St Gallen. However, Vikingur were clearly up for the game. The home side looked good on the ball and took advantage of a Cercle side that looked disjointed. A number of players were either injured or left at home for the trip to Iceland.

21-year-old Ari Sigurpalsson scored a fine equaliser to make it 1-1, and it looked like the hosts would go into the break 2-1 up when they were awarded a penalty. However, Danijel Djuric, who has 13 goals and four assists this season, hit the bar from the spot. Cercle squandered their lifeline in the second half. Djuric went from villain to hero when he slotted home on the counter, Shortly after a fantastic cross from Gisli Thordarson was tucked in by Faroese defender Gunnar Vatnhamar.

Next up for Cercle will be a clash with Austrian side LASK away from home. Vikingur will face Borac Banja Luka, although they first play Breidablik in a title decider on Sunday.

GBeNeFN | Ben Jackson