The Lotto Park is almost fully sold-out for Brian Riemer’s third home game. The coach took a seat in the press room before Sunday’s game against Antwerp.
Kristian Arnstad is suspended after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Seraing. “Luckily, the midfield is probably the area where we have the biggest availability and quite some possibilities. But obviously yes, we will miss Kristian. I think he plays a big part in what we’re building at the moment and he’s done a great job since my arrival here.”
The coach indicated that Lior Refaelov will have his first full training session on Saturday, which leaves him in contention for the game. Marco Kana is not available yet for selection. “We need Marco back. I think Marco is such a good player and he covers exactly those positions that I want him to. He can play the 6 and the center back position. He is that kind of Anderlecht-boy that I also want to build a team around. Luckily, he’s not far off, but it’s too soon to include him for the game this Sunday and probably for the one on Friday against KV Oostende as well. We’ll see.”
RSCA is facing Antwerp on Sunday, sitting comfortably third in the league at the moment. “I look forward to the challenge again. It’s the last team of the top 4 that I haven’t played. They’ve had a good season so far, I have a lot of respect for that. But I believe in ourselves and I can’t wait to come back to this amazing stadium and to greet our amazing fans again. My first game here was not what we wanted, with the red card against Union. The second game there weren’t any fans allowed in the stadium. So now hopefully this will be our lucky third and we can pull out a good performance.”
The coach was asked about the departure of Julien Duranville. “I’m very sad to see Julien leave the club. I basically haven’t even had the opportunity to train with him, because he was injured. I know that it was his ambition to make the move to Germany. It was never what we would have wanted. For us, to develop our own talents and to see them flourish in the first team, is always our first priority. So from an Anderlecht-perspective, it’s a sad day to see one of our Neerpede-boys leave, but I wish him nothing but the best.”
