Buffel warns stunning first season up means Gers must be wary of best team in Belgium
DON’T let the name fool you.
Royale Union Saint-Gilloise may sound as if it belongs in a historical novel and the club is only just back in the Belgian big league after 48 years kicking around down the divisions.
But Thomas Buffel watched them hit the top flight like a train last season and when he saw their name come out alongside Rangers, it nearly sent a nasty shiver racing down his spine.
The former Belgian star has been around the block enough times to know how it works.
While Rangers fans might have been a little less bullish if it was Anderlecht, Standard Liege or Genk, expectations soared like the summer mercury yesterday when Union came out of the pot to stand between their club and a place in the Champions League play-offs. But this fairytale club came close to eclipsing the kind of miracle that rocked England’s Premier League when Leicester won the title in 2016.
Union finished the league season at the top of the Juiiper Pro League only to then lose the title to big-hitters Brugge over a six-game play-off campaign.
It was an astonishing return to the top division capped off with a first crack at Champions League football. But ex-Rangers man Buffel said: “The whole country has been fascinated with
Union’s story. It started a couple of years ago when they started beating big clubs in the cups even when they were in the second division.
“So everyone knew big things were starting to happen for them. They still play in a small stadium with a 9000 capacity and it’s from the olden days. But you can smell the football there. It’s that kind of place.”
Buffel believes Union could be difficult to stop now they have the whiff of success in their nostrils. He said: “Unfortunately they missed out on becoming champions because they deserved to win it. They were the best team in Belgium for a full year. But Belgium has a very strange league system so even though they finished top they lost the title to Brugge in the play-offs.
“Even the games against Brugge were all about small details. They scored a goal which was supposed to be offside but even now I’m not sure that it was.
“These sort of small things went against them and that was why the fairytale didn’t happen for them in the end. But they have big ambitions.
“Now a lot of clubs in Belgium are in the hands of investors to have better possibilities to bring in good players and compete at the top. For the last few years Brugge have been untouchable