Battered and Brugged
Moment Club Brugge star sparks mass brawl with controversial flag act after fierce derby win
Act was reminiscent of a Liverpool icon in the 1990s
A FOOTBALL star sparked a mass brawl after planting his team's flag in the middle of his bitter rivals' pitch after beating them in a heated derby.
Belgian side Club Brugge defeated hated neighbours Cercle Brugge 3-1 at the Jan Breydel Stadium on Sunday.
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However, Brugge star Ardon Jashari, 22, wanted to rub the noses of their rivals in the defeat even more.
The Swiss midfielder was seen running on to the field with a blue and black flag - the colour of Club Brugge - which he then attempted to plant in the centre circle of the pitch.
However, already suffering the ignominy of losing at home to their rivals, Cercle players refused to let him get away with it.
Players and coaches ran over to Jashari as he planted the flag before goalkeeper Maxime Delanghe booted it out of the ground before carrying it away.
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Incensed Cercle stars confronted the 22-year-old as rival players from both sides then became involved in a shoving match, serenaded by intense whistling from the crowd.
It was a moment which drew parallels with Graeme Souness' own flag planting act when - as manager - he placed a Galatasaray flag in the middle of the pitch after a 3-0 win over Fenerbahce in the Turkish Cup in 1996.
That moment nearly sparked a riot as tensions threatened to boil over between the Istanbul rivals.
The case in Belgium on Sunday was more low-key than the incident back then, though Jashari will almost certainly be public enemy No1 to any Cercle Brugge fans.
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Cercle Brugge and Club Brugge share the 29,000 capacity stadium in Bruges.
It is a similar deal to the way Inter Milan and AC Milan share the San Siro, which has been the case since 1947.
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The game itself came after "away" side Club Brugge suffered a 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa in the Champions League last-16 there in midweek.
The city-owned stadium was built in 1975 and hosted four games during the 2000 European Championships - three group games and a quarter-final between Spain and eventual winners France.
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