Our prediction for this Belgium Pro League match:
St Liege
Match Time & Date:
22/07/2022
20:45
Prediction: 1-2
Gent
All eyes will be on Stade Maurice Dufrasne when Standard Liege and Gent square off against each other in the opening match of the season. The Red Devils failed to impress in pre-season with the team recording no victory in warm-up games, and it is no wonder the bookies see them as underdogs in Friday’s clash. Right winger Aron Donnum, who is back from a loan spell with Valerenga, is pushing for a start, while summer signing Noah Ohio could make his Jupiler League debut against Gent.
The visitors, on the other hand, have big ambitions for the 2022/2023 Jupiler League campaign, with the club chiefs signing permanent deals with the likes of Hugo Cuypers and Jordan Torunarigha in the summer. Gent are more of a team than Standard, and we predict that Hein Vanhaezebrouck’s men are going to prove their worth on the field.
Highlighted Player (Mehdi Carcela-González):
Despite being born in Liege, Belgium on July 1, 1989, Mehdi Carcela represents Morocco on the international stage. Carcela initially chose to play for his country of birth Belgium, taking part in two friendlies with the Red Devils, but in February 2011 he made his debut with Morocco.
He represented Morocco at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia, but the African side failed to make it to the knockout stages of the showpiece tournament. Speaking of his club career, Mehdi Carcela played for the likes of Standard Liege, Anzhi, Benfica, Granada and Olympiakos (on loan). He currently plays for Standard Liege on loan from Granada.
Mehdi Carcela’s main position is right winger, but he is capable of playing as both attacking midfielder and left winger as well. In the 2008/2009 season the Morocco international won the Belgian Pro League with Standard and seven seasons later he repeated the success with Benfica as the Eagles won Primeira Liga. His preferred foot is left.
Highlighted Team (Gent):
Gent are a Belgian football club that plays their home games at Ghelamco Arena. The venue has been the club’s home ground since 2013 and the capacity of the stadium is 20 000. De Buffalo’s participate in the Belgian Pro League and they clinched their first domestic trophy in the 2014/2015 season.
Gent finished the regular part of the season in second place in the standings, but they eventually climbed to the top position in the table in the play-off. The club won their third Belgian Cup trophy in 2010 and it has to be noted that they defeated Club Brugge in the Belgian Super Cup in 2015. Laurent Depoitre scored the winner for Gent three minutes before the final whistle.
A number of top-class players were part of the team in the past and the likes of Victor Fernandez, Johan Boskamp, Bob Peeters, Trond Sollied and Michel Preud’homme are some of notable footballers who played for Gent in the past.
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