Antwerp beats Club Brugge to lift Belgian Cup

Antwerp denied Club Brugge the double as it won the Belgian Cup final 1-0 on Saturday in the first football match in the country since the COVID-19 lockdown began in March.

Israel international Lior Refaelov slid home the winner after 25 minutes to hand Antwerp its 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 leader Brugge declared champion.

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.