Westerlo vs Cercle Brugge

Het Kuipje sets the stage for Westerlo’s curtain-raising 2024/25 Belgian Pro League clash against Cercle Brugge.

Despite steering the club to a decent 11th-place finish on their return to the top flight, Bart Goor is no longer Westerlo’s manager, as the club appointed Timmy Simons as his successor over the summer. Simons’ team blew hot and cold during the off-season, altering between winning (2) and not (D1, L1) across their four warm-up games. Westerlo will hope to maintain that trend at the start of the new season after drawing 0-0 with Helmond in the final build-up for this clash. Confidence stems from thrashing Cercle Brugge 4-2 in this corresponding fixture last season to end a dismal three-game losing H2H run by an aggregate score of 9-4.

In the meantime, Cercle Brugge opened their pre-season preparations with a 3-2 win against AEK Larnaca before going winless in three consecutive friendlies (D2, L1). The visitors’ sluggish off-season form hardly bodes well for their effort to better last season’s fourth-place finish. It’s up to long-serving boss Miron Muslic to motivate his side from the get-go, especially following a two-game winless run toward the end of the 2023/24 campaign (D1, L1). However, his men haven’t fared well on the road in 2024, winning just four of their ten away league matches this calendar year (W4, D4, L2). With three of their last five top-flight travels featuring 3+ goals, a high-scoring game could be on the cards in Het Kuipje.