Soccer Football - Belgian Cup Final - Club Brugge v Royal Antwerp - King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium - August 1, 2020 Royal Antwerp players celebrate with the trophy after winning the Belgian Cup Bart Vandenbroucke/Pool via REUTERS
Antwerp denied Club Brugge the double as they won the Belgian Cup final 1-0 on Saturday in the first football in the country since the COVID-19 lockdown began in March.
The 34-year-old Israel international Lior Refaelov slid home the winner after 25 minutes to hand Antwerp their first cup success in 28 years.
The game was the only one held over from the 2019-20 season which was cancelled less than a month after the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pandemic with runaway leaders Brugge declared champions.
Soccer Football - Belgian Cup Final - Club Brugge v Royal Antwerp - King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium - August 1, 2020 Royal Antwerp players celebrate with the trophy after winning the Belgian Cup Bart Vandenbroucke/Pool via REUTERS
Yet any hopes Brugge had of adding more silverware were quickly dampened by a strong Antwerp performance with former Liverpool keeper Simon Mignolet making several key saves to deny Antwerp a greater winning margin.
The final had been scheduled for March 22 but was finally played behind closed doors in Brussels just a week before the scheduled start of the new campaign.
Soccer Football - Belgian Cup Final - Club Brugge v Royal Antwerp - King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium - August 1, 2020 Royal Antwerp's Lior Refaelov scores their first goal REUTERS/Johanna Geron
(Writing by Mark Gleeson; Editing Toby Davis)
Soccer Football - Belgian Cup Final - Club Brugge v Royal Antwerp - King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium - August 1, 2020 Royal Antwerp players celebrate after winning the Belgian Cup REUTERS/Johanna GeronSoccer Football - Belgian Cup Final - Club Brugge v Royal Antwerp - King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium - August 1, 2020 Royal Antwerp's Didier Lamkel Ze in action with Club Brugge's Clinton Mata REUTERS/Johanna GeronSoccer Football - Belgian Cup Final - Club Brugge v Royal Antwerp - King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium - August 1, 2020 General view inside the stadium during the match REUTERS/Johanna GeronSoccer Football - Belgian Cup Final - Club Brugge v Royal Antwerp - King Baudouin Stadium, Brussels, Belgium - August 1, 2020 Royal Antwerp's Lior Refaelov in action REUTERS/Johanna Geron
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