On Easter Monday, the Mauves will travel to Jan Breydel for the opening matchday of the Champions’ Play-offs. Back in March, RSCA earned a 2-2 draw away at Club Brugge, with goals from Nathan De Cat and Tristan Degreef. “We need to be consistent and bring the same intensity as we did then,” said Jérémy Taravel. Watch his full press conference now on Mauve TV.
Now that the internationals have returned to Neerpede, all focus is on the start of the Champions’ Play-offs. Coach Jérémy Taravel welcomed back, among others, Mihajlo Cvetković, who qualified for the European Championship with Serbia’s U19s. Nathan De Cat also returned (with slight jet lag) from the United States, where he made his first appearances with the Red Devils.
“All the players have returned well from international duty. They are fit and ready to start the play-offs,” Taravel said. Nathan Saliba, who was on duty with Canada last week, is also ready. However, the midfielder is suspended for the opening game. “Nathan is not only physically and technically strong, but also has an exemplary mentality. We will obviously miss him against Club, but we have enough quality to cope with his absence.”
Taravel’s team kick off the play-offs with the Topper at Jan Breydel - a tough challenge, as the coach acknowledges. “They have a lot of quality in their squad and they are playing at home. They will want to show from the first match that they are ready and that they are title contenders.” In March, RSCA showed great intensity and quality in Bruges. “That intensity needs to become second nature, both in matches and every day in training.”
The coach wants to keep his players sharp throughout the play-offs and prepare them optimally for the cup final on 14 May. “I don’t have a secret plan or a miracle recipe, but how we manage games will be crucial. The players need to be guided physically and mentally during the play-offs so they are ready for the cup final.” At the same time, it would be wrong to focus solely on the cup. “In my experience, that only has a negative effect. We have to set ourselves high targets: we want to finish in the top three and aim for European football.”
The fact that RSCA ranked second in results against fellow top-six teams during the regular season is an added source of motivation. “It’s true that we were able to compete with all of those teams and delivered strong performances. We didn’t reach the play-offs to play a bit-part role,” the coach concluded.
See you at the Jan Breydel Stadium on Easter Monday (13:30) for Matchday 1 of the Champions’ Play-offs.