Riot police clash with Belgian fans as FC Utrecht lose to Genk in delayed kickoff
FC Utrecht was defeated by the Belgian side KRC Genk on Thursday, an evening that will mostly be remembered for the crowd trouble inside the Galgenwaard stadium. The riot police were called to remove the traveling support from Belgium after it became clear that fans had sneaked in without a ticket, meaning they had not been checked by security. This led to clashes between the police and the supporters, and the game kicked off an hour later as a result.
Around 60 Genk fans had snuck in without a ticket, FC Utrecht said. The municipality of Utrecht said at 11 p.m. that the traveling fans had caused so much damage to the away section that no fans could have been seated there for the game.
Trouble had already been anticipated regarding the Belgian fans. They had been taken by bus from Genk straight to the stadium and were scheduled to be brought back straight after the game; in the end, this happened around two hours earlier.
Regarding the game, although Genk were the better side, it was mainly decided with two contentious decisions from referee Robert Hennessy. Prior to the game, Utrecht knew they had no chance of advancing in the competition. Ron Jans’ side has lost every game bar one, which ended in a draw.
Both sides showed a lack of quality, with the only chances of note in the first half coming from Genk midfielder Daan Heymans and two shots from distance from Can Bozdogan for Utrecht.
Genk’s first goal came in the 54th minute. A corner was punched out of the box by Michael Brouwer and then shot towards goal by Zakaria El Ouahdi. The shot was straight at Brouwer and would have been saved on most occasions, but the goalkeeper was distracted by Mike Eerdhuijzen’s effort to clear it and by defender Mujaid Sadick, who was standing in his line of sight in an offside position. Surprisingly, the team of officials, including VAR official Andrew Dallas, awarded the goal.
The visitors were awarded a penalty in the 83rd minute. 18-year-old Konstantinos Karetsas went down after tangling with Sofian El Karouani in the box, and Hennessy pointed to the spot. Replays showed that Karetsas had initiated the contact with El Karouani, but Dallas still decided not to overturn the decision. The penalty was taken and scored by Heymans.
Utrecht will travel to Celtic next week for the last game in their UEFA Europa League campaign. They face Sparta Rotterdam at home on Sunday in the Eredivisie.
