Onuachu and Bongonda lead Genk past OH Leuven

Genk defeated OH Leuven 4-0 in Saturday’s Belgian First Division A encounter with Paul Onuachu and Theo Bongonda among the goal scorers.

The Smurfs came into the game having crashed out of the Champions League following a 2-1 defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine in midweek.

Nonetheless, John van den Brom’s men moved on from that setback with a comfortable win over the visitors at the Luminus Arena.

Unbeaten in the 2021-22 Belgian top-flight campaign, Marc Brys’ men travelled to Limburg hoping to pull off a shock win, but the reverse was the case.

Three minutes into the fixture, Bongonda slotted the ball past goalkeeper Rafael Romo after he was found by Gerardo Arteaga, who had controlled a pass from Carel Eiting.

That was the fourth league goal of the former Belgium youth international of Congolese origin.

He doubled his lead a few minutes later it was chalked off by the referee following a foul by Onuachu in the build-up.

Leuven put up a fine attacking displaying but their attempts didn’t yield any results as they went into the half-time break with a two-goal deficit.

The hosts were dealt a blow as Burundi prospect Mike Tresor Ndayishimiye was forced off injured having suffered a knock while making an attacking move.

Even at that, Onuachu doubled his team’s advantage in the 59th minute thanks to good work from Kristian Thorstvedt.

It was the turn of Japanese star Junya Ito to find beat Romo after an impressive combination with Bongonda.

Seven minutes from full-time, Van der Brom’s team made it 4-0 but the goal was cancelled for offside.

Notwithstanding, Thorstvedt found the net in the closing minutes of the game as Leuven returned home with heads bowed low.

While Onuachu was in action from start to finish, Bongonda was subbed off in the 85th minute for Swiss midfielder Bastien Toma.

Stephen Odey (Nigeria), Cyriel Dessers (Nigeria), Joseph Paintsil (Ghana), Eboue Kouassi (Cote d’Ivoire) and Kelvin John (Tanzania) played no role for Genk.

On the other side, Yannick Aguemon (Benin Republic) and Isaac Asante (Ghana) were not dressed for action for Leuven but Burkina Faso’s Dylan Ouedraogo was introduced for Sebastien Dewaest in the 78th minute.