Qualified at the last minute for the Champions playoffs on the last day of the classic phase, the Limburgers approached this new championship with a liberated spirit, and with ambitions. “A club like Genk must play in the playoffs 1 every yearsays Zakaria El Ouahdi. We achieved a first objective during the last day of the championship, we are now competing in these playoffs 1 with this ambition of seeking a European place. We no longer have the pressure of the championship which forced us to qualify for playoffs 1 and freed from this pressure, we can better express our qualities. Today, pressure has been replaced by ambition. We will do everything to get a European ticket, or even more.”
In the name of friendship
Genk's strength is its collective. A collective within which a trio has been working wonders for several weeks: Bilal El Khannouss, Anouar Ait El Hadj and Zakaria El Ouhadi, the three Moroccans from the KRC. Three friends too. “Bilal is a friend, we won the U23 Africa Cup together and it was a pleasure to meet him again in Genk. I knew Anouar less before my arrival but today, there are still three of us. We have just experienced the month of Ramadan together, which has further strengthened our bonds of friendship. A friendship that is felt on the ground”, confides El Ouahdi, who joined Genk last September from RWDM.
Anouar Ait El Hadj also highlights the friendship of the three Moroccans. A friendship which allowed him to get through the difficult period he experienced until last March with barely two starts and then playing time reduced to nothing (two minutes in 2024). “We really have a good relationship. We often see each other outside the club. And on the pitch, we try to put our qualities and our complicity at the service of the team.”
A complicity that the three friends have rediscovered since the return to grace of Anouar Ait El Hadj which took place after his winning goal against Standard last March. “Even though I remained patient and continued to work, it was very difficult for me to experience this situation”he confided.
When I was at Anderlecht, I was among the best but I was not upgraded like Debast. It drove me crazy.
Since then, Bilal El Khannouss, Anouar Ait El Hadj and Zakaria El Ouhadi have had a series of tenures together. Coincidence? Since the three friends started the meetings together, Genk has not lost, stringing together three victories and two draws which have put the Limburgers back in the race for Europe and perhaps even more.
The Brussels reunion
This Saturday, Genk will host Anderlecht for a match which promises to be very special for the three friends. If El Ouahdi knew RWDM's neighbor Molenbeek, it will be much more special for El Khannouss and Ait El Hadj, both trained in Anderlecht. Anouar who left the Mauves after spending ten years at Neerpede. “Of course I miss my city. When I have a day off, I like to go back. It was a big thing to leave Brussels, because for the first time in my life I had to live alone. Fortunately, I already had a lot of friends in Genk. And my free time, I was able to spend it with Bilal El Khannouss, Joris Kayembe, Andi Zeqiri and Zakaria El Ouahdihe confided a few days ago before thinking about Saturday's meeting. This will always be a special match for me. I played for Anderlecht for a long time, and I grew up there. I can’t wait to play against them.”
For Bilal El Khannouss, it will be an opportunity to release resentment that is still very present, as he confided in an interview with Humo magazine a few months ago. “I didn’t feel valued there, it made me angry. I think I was always among the best young people. But after the U12s, while young people like Zeno Debast were upgraded, I was not entitled to it. I also found myself very often on the bench, without anyone explaining the reason to me. It made me crazy”launches the one that risks driving the Mauves crazy on Saturday.
