The former Heracles striker made a rare start for Genk on Thursday evening, but despite making a good impression, he failed to show he deserved to start ahead of his prolific compatriot
Cyriel Dessers impressed from start to finish, but he was not among the goals as Genk defeated Mechelen 4-1 in the Belgian Cup at the Luminus Arena.
Dessers supplied the assists to Genk’s opening and last goals against the struggling visitors, but he would have been disappointed not to find the back of the net after being preferred in attack ahead of top scorer Paul Onuachu.
A brace from Kristian Thorstvedt and further strikes from Daniel Munoz and Theo Bongonda secured Genk’s brilliant victory, with the visitors’ consolation coming from Kerim Mrabti.
Dessers arrived in Belgium heroically and was expected to shoulder the Belgian side’s goalscoring responsibilities, having finished last season as Eredivisie’s joint top scorer.
But the former Utrecht man has managed just 685 minutes and four goals in the First Division A for Genk while mostly playing second fiddle to the untouchable Onuachu.
The sight of Dessers appeared to galvanise Onuachu to unprecedented heights, with the former Midtjylland ace going on to post a record number of goals and top the league’s scorer’s chart.
Onuachu, who was sat on the bench throughout on Thursday, has found the back of the net 24 times in the league, while his solitary appearance in the Cup also yielded a crucial winning goal against Sint Truiden last month.
Those are numbers Dessers can only dream of, and no one – not least the former NAC Breda man – would be surprised should Onuachu be returned to the starting lineup when Genk host Cercle Brugge in a league clash on Sunday.
