On Matchday 8 of the Champions’ Play-offs, RSCA hosted their neighbours from Saint-Gilles. In a tense Brussels derby, the Mauves narrowly avoided conceding early, but a goal by Fuseini before halftime ultimately decided the match in Union Saint-Gilloise’s favour. No fourth consecutive win for Besnik Hasi’s men.
RSCA got off to a poor start. After barely a minute, Moussa Ndiaye committed a foul inside his own box. Franjo Ivanovic failed to capitalize on the early gift, sending the penalty wide. Sporting responded around the 15th minute with a nice combination down the right wing between Thorgan Hazard and Ali Maamar. Hazard then delivered a perfect cross to the head of Kasper Dolberg, but the Dane couldn’t generate enough power in his header. At the other end, Mohammed Fuseini went one-on-one with Colin Coosemans after a long ball, but failed to keep his cool. Just before the half-hour mark, Union did find the net: Ivanovic once again sent Fuseini through on goal, and this time the Ghanaian made no mistake. The Mauves answered with a long-range shot from Hazard, but it posed no problem for Anthony Moris. RSCA went into halftime trailing.
Besnik Hasi made a change at halftime, bringing on Mario Stroeykens while César Huerta stayed in the dressing room. Sporting threatened first after the break with a header from Lucas Hey, but Moris tipped it over. Union responded with a wild shot from Anouar Ait El Hadj that went high over the crossbar. On the hour mark, RSCA were awarded a penalty for a foul on Nilson Angulo. Kasper Dolberg stepped up but missed. Mario Stroeykens did put the rebound into the net, but VAR disallowed the goal due to an early entry into the box. After the disallowed goal, Tristan Degreef made his return from a long injury layoff. De Cat and Augustinsson also came on for the final half hour, replacing Verschaeren, Ndiaye and Maamar. In the dying moments, Hasi threw on Luis Vázquez as well, but the Mauves were unable to create any real chances. Their unbeaten run of four games in the Champions’ Play-offs came to an end.