Club Brugge's Refaelov runs rings round FCK
Thursday, November 6, 2014
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FC København 0-4 Club Brugge KV
Lior Refaelov's first-half treble silenced the home fans in Copenhagen and took the Belgian side to the top of UEFA Europa League Group B.
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• Lior Refaelov scores a hat-trick inside 36 minutes for Club Brugge
• First UEFA competition treble for the 28-year-old Israeli forward
• Ruud Vormer hits fourth as Club Brugge hit top spot in Group B
• FCK lose Nicolai Jørgensen to first-half injury
• Next games: HJK v København, Torino v Club Brugge (27 November)
Club Brugge KV are closing in on the UEFA Europa League round of 32 after Lior Refaelov's first-half hat-trick set them on the path to a 4-0 Group B win at FC København.
With just seven minutes on the clock, FC København's game plan started to unravel, Refaelov scoring on the turn with the visitors' first meaningful chance. The Israeli forward's goals got progressively better as the night went from bad to worse for FCK, before Ruud Vormer completed the scoring after the break.
Tom De Sutter played a brilliant supporting role, delivering the ball to Refaelov's feet for the 28-year-old to fire his second of the night high into the net on the half-hour. Refaelov then claimed the match ball with some panache on 36 minutes, completing his first UEFA competition hat-trick with a brilliant finish from distance via the outside of his foot.
With the game effectively won before half-time, and FCK's most effective attacking player, Nicolai Jørgensen, having come off injured, Michel Preud'homme's men could afford to take their foot off the accelerator after the interval. Nevertheless, they managed to drive a fourth nail into FCK's coffin, Vormer tapping the ball into the net from a low Nicolas Castillo cross, the Chilean having replaced De Sutter at the break.