Sports Mole previews Wednesday’s friendly clash between Club Brugge and Norwich City, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Championship side Norwich City travel to Belgium to face Club Brugge at Stadion Schiervelde in Roeselare for a friendly fixture on Wednesday.
While Blauw-Zwart are gearing up for their fourth pre-season match of the summer, the Canaries are preparing for just their second friendly fixture.
Match preview
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Club Brugge have made an unbeaten start to pre-season, with a 4-1 victory over AEK Athens sandwiched between two 1-1 draws with Royal Knokke and PSV Eindhoven, sharing the spoils with the latter in the Netherlands last Saturday.
Casper Nielsen curled a superb opener into the top-right corner just three minutes after the interval, but PSV’s persistence in the final third was rewarded with an equaliser fired home by Ismael Saibari just before the hour mark.
Nicky Hayen has been appointed as Brugge’s permanent manager after leading Blauw-Zwart to their 19th Belgian Pro League title last season, winning seven and drawing three of his 10 matches as caretaker boss during the Champions’ playoffs phase.
The 43-year-old is now tasked with building a squad capable of retaining the title in 2024-25 as well as building on a successful European campaign after reaching the Conference League semi-finals last season, losing out to Fiorentina over two legs.
As well as facing Norwich on Wednesday, a second Club Brugge lineup will face FCV Dender in a separate friendly on the same day, before Hayen’s players reunite ahead of squaring off against Union SG in the Belgian Super Cup on home soil on Saturday.
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Norwich began their pre-season preparations with a comfortable 3-0 victory over League One outfit Northampton Town at Sixfields Stadium last Saturday.
The Canaries’ 2023-24 Young Player of the Season Jonathan Rowe scored twice in the opening 12 minutes to put the visitors in control, before teenager Ken Aboh scored late in the second half to seal the win in Johannes Thorup‘s first game in charge.
The 35-year-old, who made a name for himself in his native Denmark with Nordsjaelland, has succeeded David Wagner who was sacked at the end of last season after Norwich were convincingly beaten 4-0 in the Championship playoff semi-finals by Leeds United.
A third consecutive season in the Championship awaits promotion hopefuls Norwich, who will follow up Wednesday’s clash against Brugge with an encounter with fellow Belgian side Standard Liege on Saturday, before travelling to Germany to conclude pre-season with friendlies against Magdeburg, Hoffenheim and St Pauli.
Club Brugge friendly form:
Norwich City friendly form:
Team News
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It remains to be seen which Club Brugge players will be selected for both this fixture and the one versus FCV Dender to be played on the same day.
A strong lineup was named against PSV, with the likes of Simon Mignolet, Brandon Mechele, Antonio Nusa, Ferran Jutgla, Hans Vanaken and former Norwich winger Christos Tzolis all handed starts, and they could all be involved again in some capacity.
As for Norwich, Thorup fielded a different XI for each half in the win over Northampton, handing minutes to a number of returning first-team players and Under-21 hopefuls.
New signing Jose Cordoba was not involved against Northampton after representing Panama at the 2024 Copa America, and it remains to be seen whether the centre-back will feature for the first time in Canary colours on Wednesday.
Club Brugge possible starting lineup:
Mignolet; Et-Taibi, Spileers, Mechele, Seys; Vetlesen, Nielsen; Nusa, Vanaken, Tzolis; Jutgla
Norwich City possible starting lineup:
Long; Stacey, Hills, Duffy, Montoia; Sorensen, Sara, Sainz; Kamara, Rowe, Fassnacht
We say: Club Brugge 2-1 Norwich City
While Norwich are in the early stages of their pre-season, Club Brugge will conclude their preparations on Wednesday and will seek to end on a positive note ahead of their first competitive fixture this weekend. We believe the Belgians will find a way to come out on top if Hayen names a strong side.
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