By Sikhumbuzo Moyo
Warriors midfielder Marvelous Nakamba’s Belgian outfit, Club Brugge was on Thursday night bungled out of Uefa’s Europa tournament by Salzburg of Austria who hammered them 4-0 to overturn a 1-2 first leg defeat.
The Austrian side, who had Zambian international Patrick Daka in devastating form as he scored a brace, registered a 5-2 aggregate win over Nakamba’s side who have had an indifferent start to the Jupiler League in Belgium as they find themselves eight points behind leaders Genk from 26 games.
The former Bantu Rovers play maker, however, was on the bench. In fact he has not seen any action seeing being red-carded in a league match against KV Oostende back in January.
Since seeing red that saw him miss even their clash against leaders Genk, coach Ivan Leko has not given the Zimbabwean star any game time. He has missed a derby against Cercle Brugge and the two back to back continental ties against the Austrian outfit.
The decision to bench Nakamba has, however, drawn sharp criticism from a cross section of the fans as well as former players who have come down heavily on the coach.
According to Soccer24 which quoted a Belgian newspaper, Het Laatste Nieuws, football analyst and former Club Brugge player, Marc Degryse, did not understand why Leko has of late been using Sofyan Amrabat who seems to struggle in that position.
“This is the second time Leko has tinkered with the midfield – last year with Clasie and this time with Amrabat of which the latter is no better than Nakamba or (Matt) Rits,” said Degryse.
“Why does he necessarily want to be right with Amrabat? For me, Nakamba is the purest number ‘6’ in the selection, and he should start in the future.”
Tomorrow Club Brugge are away to former champions Anderlecht as they resume their league games. The Chronicle.
