Seraing United vs Liège 1-0

Seraing United beat Liège 1-0 at Le Stade du Pairay after Moustapha Diop’s first-half finish settled a match that turned against the visitors when Harrison Ondo-Eyi was sent off in the 20th minute, with VAR confirming the red card a minute later.

The only goal came in the 44th minute, when Diop scored from Alexandre Tunkadi’s assist to put Seraing United 1-0 up. Before that, Liège had already picked up early bookings for Pierre-Yves Ngawa in the 7th minute and Simon Paulet in the 36th, while Seraing United’s M. Scarpinati was booked in the 41st minute. The half-time score was Seraing United 1-0 Liège.

Liège made two changes at the break, replacing Simon Paulet with Reno Wilmots and Nacim Dendani with Ryan Ogam, but they could not find a way back into the game. Seraing United managed the lead through three more substitutions, including Tom Lockman on 60 minutes and Nabil Bouchentouf on 67, while Liège’s late changes brought no equaliser. The visitors also had Eric N'jo booked in first-half stoppage time, then saw a VAR check at 45+3 minutes cancel a possible card upgrade for him. Seraing United added yellow cards for Tom Lockman, Yannis Lawson and Anas Namri, but kept the clean sheet through the closing stages.

The numbers backed Seraing United’s edge in the contest. They had 57% of the ball, 523 passes and 11 shots to Liège’s 43%, 376 passes and 3 shots, with 4 efforts on target to 1 and an xG of 0.72 to 0.25. Liège did win 6 corners to 3, but Seraing United had 0 offsides compared with Liège’s 4 and made 1 save to Liège’s 3.

Discipline was a major part of the match. Liège were booked five times, with Pierre-Yves Ngawa, Simon Paulet, Eric N'jo, Kevin Shkurti and Arnold Qevani all shown yellow cards, and Harrison Ondo-Eyi sent off in the 20th minute after VAR confirmed the red card. Seraing United received three yellow cards, for M. Scarpinati, Tom Lockman and Yannis Lawson, plus Anas Namri in stoppage time.