GiveMeSport
·4 June 2023
GiveMeSport
·4 June 2023
Toby Alderweireld scored an incredible 94th minute screamer to win the Belgian title for Royal Antwerp.
The Belgian Pro League title went down to the final day of the season with Royal Antwerp, Union Saint-Gilloise and Genk all level on points.
Antwerp and Genk faced each other, while Union Saint-Gilloise hosted Club Brugge.
What transpired was pretty incredible.
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Up until the 89th minute, Union Saint-Gilloise led the way with a 1-0 lead over Club Brugge. Genk were beating Antwerp 2-1, needed a win to finish above their opponents.
However, it all changed when Union Saint-Gilloise conceded in the 89th minute. It suddenly meant that if Genk held on against Antwerp, they would be champions.
Unsurprisingly, Union Saint-Gilloise went ghung-ho against Club Brugge looking to retake the lead that would win them the title but they were caught out twice and ended up losing 3-1.
So Genk knew they would be champions if they held out.
However, in the most extraordinary circumstances, Antwerp equalised in the 94th minute to become champions.
And they did it in some style.
It was thanks to 34-year-old defender, Alderweireld, who smashed a 25-yard screamer into the top corner for his boyhood club to win them their first league title since 1957.
Absolute scenes.
Beating Genk to the title with an absolute screamer in injury time would have felt particularly sweet for Alderweireld.
That's because, after Royal Antwerp's victory over the same opponents last month, the defender shared some vile abuse he received from rivals fans.
One of the disgusting messages read: "Your daughter is going to die this weekend… I hope that your family dies… You can't win without the ref, great big cancer.”
In response, Alderweireld shared an image of the message on Instagram and wrote: "Everything has its limits. I can take everything, but threatening my family goes too far. I don't understand why you write this to me and what you want to get out of these threats.”