OH Leuven turned up the pressure right away and left Standard Liège with nothing to show for it. The visitors ran out 5:0 winners in the 3rd matchday of the Belgian Super League. To be fair, the home side looked vulnerable from the 1st whistle.
K. De Ceuster opened the scoring in the 14th minute and doubled it just before the break. By then, the visitors had already cut them open at will. The home defence had no answer to the shifting angles.
J. Kuijpers added 2 more goals after the restart, 1 in the 34th minute and another shortly after half-time. I. Dekker rounded off the tally in the 50th minute with a clinical finish. The visitors were dominant in the air from set plays and took their chances without hesitation. Their movement off the ball was constant, forcing the home defence into mistakes. And here's the thing, they showed the control of a side that knows how to manage a lead.
The result shifts the balance in the table quite sharply. OH Leuven move to 3rd place with 7 points, while Standard Liège drop to 5th with just 3. It creates a gap that will test the visitors' consistency.
This follows a heavy defeat for the hosts earlier this season when they lost 2:3 to the same opponents. OH Leuven are on a good run, having won 4 of their last 5 fixtures across all competitions. Standard Liège now face a long task to recover their momentum, especially after conceding 5 goals in a single afternoon.
