Genk makes history with last eight ticket
It was a slice of history for Genk, which eased into the last eight of the UEFA Europa League with a 1-1 draw against an insipid Gent on Friday (AEDT).
Genk secured its place in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League as a 1-1 draw with Gent sealed a resounding 6-3 aggregate success.
The host had done most of the hard work in the opening leg against its fellow Belgian First Division A opponent, romping to a 5-2 win, and this result secured its place in the last eight of a major UEFA competition for the first time.
As a result Gent, which qualified for the championship round in its domestic league at the weekend while Genk missed out by a point, seemed unwilling to mount an attempt at staging what would have been a remarkable turnaround at Luminus Arena.
Their approach was perhaps best summed up by head coach Hein Vanhaezebrouck naming five teenagers on the bench, only one of whom had any prior first-team experience.
Needing at least four goals to advance, Gent was facing a tall order and the mountain's summit receded further into the distance when Genk full-back Timothy Castagne thumped home in the 20th minute.
One of Gent's youthful substitutes, Louis Verstraete, denied Genk an eighth successive European home win this season with a late equaliser, but it was scant consolation for the visitors, conquerors of Tottenham Hotspur in the previous round.
