# 2020–21 Standard Liège season

The 2020–21 Standard Liège season was the club's 117th season in existence and its ninth consecutive season in the top flight of Belgian football. In addition to the domestic league, Standard Liège participated in this season's edition of the Belgian Cup and participated in the UEFA Europa League. The season covered the period from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021.

## Players
### First-team squad

    As of 14 January 2021
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | BEL | Jean-François Gillet |
| 3 | DF | BEL | Zinho Vanheusden |
| 5 | DF | MLI | Moussa Sissako |
| 6 | DF | BEL | Noë Dussenne |
| 7 | FW | CRO | Duje Čop |
| 8 | MF | BIH | Gojko Cimirot |
| 9 | FW | BEL | Obbi Oularé |
| 10 | MF | MAR | Mehdi Carcela |
| 11 | MF | COD | William Balikwisha |
| 12 | MF | FRA | Eddy Sylvestre |
| 13 | DF | COD | John Nekadio |
| 14 | FW | BRA | Klauss (on loan from Hoffenheim) |
| 15 | MF | ISR | Eden Shamir |
| 16 | GK | BEL | Arnaud Bodart |
| 17 | FW | COD | Jackson Muleka |
| 18 | MF | MNE | Aleksandar Boljević |
| 19 | MF | MAR | Selim Amallah |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 20 | MF | COD | Merveille Bokadi |
| 21 | DF | CMR | Collins Fai |
| 22 | MF | BEL | Maxime Lestienne |
| 23 | FW | BFA | Abdoul Tapsoba |
| 24 | DF | FRA | Nicolas Gavory |
| 25 | FW | URU | Felipe Avenatti |
| 26 | MF | BEL | Nicolas Raskin |
| 27 | DF | LUX | Laurent Jans |
| 28 | MF | BEL | Samuel Bastien |
| 29 | MF | BEL | Joachim Carcela |
| 30 | GK | BEL | Laurent Henkinet |
| 31 | FW | BEL | Mitchy Ntelo |
| 32 | MF | BEL | Michel-Ange Balikwisha |
| 33 | DF | BEL | Damjan Pavlovic |
| 34 | DF | CYP | Konstantinos Laifis |
| 41 | DF | BEL | Hugo Siquet |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 12 | FW | ROU | Denis Drăguș (at Crotone) |

## Transfers
### In

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred from | Fee | Date | Source |
| 15 | | | TBD | | 1 July 2020 | |

### Out

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred to | Fee | Date |
| – | DF | Arthur Theate | Oostende | Undisclosed | 13 July 2020 |
| – | MF | Carlinhos | Vasco da Gama | Undisclosed | 7 August 2020 |
| 7 | FW | Orlando Sá | Málaga | Free | 13 August 2020 |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Belgian First Division A | 8 August 2020 | 22 May 2021 | Matchday 1 | 6th | 40 | 14 | 11 | 15 | 59 | 58 | +1 | 035.00 |
| Belgian Cup | 3 February 2021 | 25 April 2021 | Sixth round | Runners-up | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 060.00 |
| UEFA Europa League | 17 September 2020 | 10 December 2020 | Second qualifying round | Group stage | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 16 | −2 | 044.44 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 54 | 21 | 13 | 20 | 81 | 78 | +3 | 038.89 |
Last updated: 22 May 2021 Source: Soccerway

### Belgian First Division A
#### Regular season

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 4 | Genk | 34 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 67 | 48 | +19 | 56 | Qualification for the Play-offs I |
| 5 | Oostende | 34 | 15 | 8 | 11 | 49 | 41 | +8 | 53 | Qualification for the Play-offs II |
| 6 | Standard Liège | 34 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 52 | 41 | +11 | 50 | Qualification for the Play-offs II |
| 7 | Gent | 34 | 14 | 7 | 13 | 55 | 42 | +13 | 49 | Qualification for the Play-offs II |
| 8 | Mechelen | 34 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 54 | 54 | 0 | 48 | Qualification for the Play-offs II |
* ↑ Genk qualifies for at least the play-off round of the Europa League through winning the 2021 Belgian Cup.
* ↑ On 14 April 2021 news was released that both Excel Mouscron and Oostende had not received a Belgian professional football license for the coming season, a requirement to play at the top two levels of Belgian football. For Oostende, a lack of financial transparency, together with generally poor quality and incompleteness of the submitted report, was given as the main reason by the committee for not awarding a license, while Excel Mouscron was refused a license as besides insufficient transparency, the committee also questioned several cash flows and whether the club was creditworthy in general, also due to the fact that the wages for the months of February and March had not yet been paid at that point. For Excel Mouscron, it was already the sixth year running the license was (initially) refused, however, the club has appealed the decision with the Belgian Court for Sports Arbitrage (BAS) successfully on each occasion and intended to do so again. Oostende was planning to launch an appeal as well, with the BAS to rule on the matter for both clubs before the 10th of May. Both clubs were allowed to add new documents to their case, but in case they however still did not receive a license after appeal, knew they would have been forced to relegate to the 2021–22 Belgian Division 2 and start the season with a 3-point penalty. Both Excel Mouscron and Oostende were however eventually awarded a license after appeal, meaning Oostende remained at the top level, while Excel Mouscron only dropped one level.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 18 April 2021. Source: Jupiler Pro League

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | H | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | W | D | W | L | W | D | W | D | L | W | D | D | D | D | L | L | L | L | W | W | W | W | D | L | D | D | L | L | L | D | W | W | W |
| Position | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 6 |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 8 July 2020.

#### Play-Off II

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation | GNT | MEC | OOS | STA |
| 1 | Gent | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 6 | +7 | 38 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round | — | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| 2 | Mechelen | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 15 | 11 | +4 | 35 | | 1–2 | — | 5–3 | 3–1 |
| 3 | Oostende | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 16 | −1 | 34 | | 0–4 | 2–2 | — | 6–2 |
| 4 | Standard Liège | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 17 | −10 | 28 | | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | — |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 22 May 2021. Source: Jupiler Pro League

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Ground | A | H | H | A | A | H |
| Result | L | W | L | L | L | L |
| Position | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |

#### Matches
### UEFA Europa League
#### Qualifying rounds
#### Group stage

The group stage draw was held on 2 October 2020.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | RAN | BEN | STL | LCH |
| 1 | Rangers | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 7 | +6 | 14 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 2–2 | 3–2 | 1–0 |
| 2 | Benfica | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 18 | 9 | +9 | 12 | Advance to knockout phase | 3–3 | — | 3–0 | 4–0 |
| 3 | Standard Liège | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 14 | −7 | 4 | | 0–2 | 2–2 | — | 2–1 |
| 4 | Lech Poznań | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 14 | −8 | 3 | | 0–2 | 2–4 | 3–1 | — |

## Statistics
### Squad appearances and goals

    Last updated on 25 April 2021
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Belgian Division | Belgian Division | Belgian Cup | Belgian Cup | UEFA Europa League | UEFA Europa League |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||||
| 1 | GK | BEL | Jean-François Gillet | 3 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | GK | BEL | Arnaud Bodart | 50 | 1 | 37 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| 30 | GK | BEL | Laurent Henkinet | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | GK | BEL | Timothy Galje | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||||
| 3 | DF | BEL | Zinho Vanheusden | 17 | 0 | 9+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | MLI | Moussa Sissako | 12 | 0 | 7+1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | BEL | Noë Dussenne | 32 | 2 | 19+4 | 2 | 1+1 | 0 | 5+2 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | COD | John Nekadio | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | DF | CMR | Collins Fai | 28 | 0 | 16+3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 7+1 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | FRA | Nicolas Gavory | 48 | 2 | 36+1 | 1 | 1+1 | 0 | 8+1 | 1 |
| 27 | DF | LUX | Laurent Jans | 20 | 1 | 6+7 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3+2 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | BEL | Damjan Pavlovic | 13 | 0 | 3+6 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | DF | CYP | Konstantinos Laifis | 43 | 3 | 27+4 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 6+1 | 1 |
| 37 | DF | MLI | Hady Sangar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | DF | BEL | Alexandro Calut | 3 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 | DF | BEL | Hugo Siquet | 26 | 0 | 18+2 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 42 | DF | BEL | Allan Delferrière | 5 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | DF | BEL | Nathan Ngoy | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||||
| 8 | MF | BIH | Gojko Cimirot | 38 | 0 | 21+4 | 0 | 4+1 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | MAR | Mehdi Carcela | 36 | 2 | 12+14 | 2 | 2+2 | 0 | 4+2 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | BEL | William Balikwisha | 3 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | FRA | Eddy Sylvestre | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | MF | ISR | Eden Shamir | 23 | 0 | 7+9 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 3+2 | 0 |
| 19 | MF | MAR | Selim Amallah | 36 | 15 | 24+3 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 4 |
| 20 | MF | COD | Merveille Bokadi | 44 | 5 | 27+4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 8+1 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | BEL | Maxime Lestienne | 40 | 7 | 24+9 | 5 | 0+3 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| 26 | MF | BEL | Nicolas Raskin | 43 | 3 | 29+3 | 2 | 4+1 | 0 | 5+1 | 1 |
| 28 | MF | BEL | Samuel Bastien | 40 | 4 | 27+2 | 4 | 2+3 | 0 | 5+1 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | BEL | Joachim Carcela | 4 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||||
| 7 | FW | CRO | Duje Čop | 13 | 1 | 5+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+2 | 1 |
| 9 | FW | BEL | Obbi Oularé | 18 | 2 | 5+7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2+4 | 0 |
| 14 | FW | BRA | Klauss | 24 | 6 | 16+3 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | COD | Jackson Muleka | 33 | 12 | 14+9 | 9 | 2+3 | 3 | 2+3 | 0 |
| 23 | FW | BFA | Abdoul Tapsoba | 29 | 2 | 5+18 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 2+1 | 2 |
| 32 | FW | BEL | Michel-Ange Balikwisha | 40 | 9 | 24+8 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 4+2 | 0 |
| Players who have made an appearance this season but have left the club ||||||||||||
| 27 | DF | KOS | Mërgim Vojvoda | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | MNE | Aleksandar Boljević | 9 | 0 | 3+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 |
| 12 | FW | ROU | Denis Drăguș | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 | FW | URU | Felipe Avenatti | 16 | 3 | 5+5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2+4 | 2 |

### Goalscorers

    As of 20 January 2021
| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Name | Pro League | Belgian Cup | Europa League | Total |
| 1 | 19 | MF | | Selim Amallah | 5 | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| 2 | 22 | MF | | Maxime Lestienne | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 32 | MF | | Michel-Ange Balikwisha | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | 25 | FW | | Felipe Avenatti | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | 28 | MF | | Samuel Bastien | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 6 | 6 | DF | | Noë Dussenne | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | 9 | FW | | Obbi Oularé | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | 17 | FW | | Jackson Muleka | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | 20 | MF | | Merveille Bokadi | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 6 | 23 | FW | | Abdoul Tapsoba | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 6 | 24 | DF | | Nicolas Gavory | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | 26 | MF | | Nicolas Raskin | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 6 | 34 | DF | | Konstantinos Laifis | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 14 | 7 | FW | | Duje Čop | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 14 | 16 | GK | | Arnaud Bodart | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 30 | 0 | 14 | 44 |