Brøndby-FCK 1-0 (1-0)

FCK missed the opportunity to win their third Royal League-title in a row, when Brøndby got the only goal of the game on a rather dubious penalty 7 minutes before halftime. FCK dominated the second half, but could not produce the equalizer.

Copenhagen opened the game best, but after 10 minutes it became more even, and as usual between these two teams, it was a hard, tight and physical game with a lot of action on the central part of the pitch, but with few chances.

In these kind of games, setpieces are often very important, and it was after a corner, Brøndby earned a rather dubious penalty. Mark Howard fell to the ground after he apparently had been held in the arm by Jesper Grønkjær during their fight for the ball. Not a penalty you see given very often on a high international level, but Martin Ericsson didn't care and sent Jesper Christiansen the wrong way.

Surprise-surprise - it's a penalty!

If setpieces are important, the first goal of the game is even more important, and eventually it turned out to be correct. But things might have looked different, if Silberbauer - only 30 seconds into the second half - had found the back of the net and not the crossbar, when he launched a fine effort from the edge of the area.

Instead of 1-1, Copenhagen had to keep chasing the crucial goal, while Brøndby concentrated almost 100 % on the defensive work. Apart from a rare counterattack, Jesper Christiansen was practically out of work during the last 45 minutes, while his team-mates had a hard time getting enough flow in the play and creating chances.

Ailton and Gravgaard came on for Nørregaard and Berglund in an effort to get more offensive power, but the only real big chance was a Hangeland-header 10 minutes before the end, which a defender cleared on the goalline.

The frustrated FCK-team couldn't help blame the referee for the penalty and a handful of freekicks, where a more pedantic referee could have reduced Brøndby to 10 or even 9 players. . But after the game Ståle Solbakken and several players were also self-critical enough to blame themselves for not being able to unlock the Brøndby-door, which was heavily blocked from the minute they got the lead.

After winning the first two Royal League-competitions, Copenhagen had to settle for a runners up-title and congratulate Brøndby as new champions of Scandinavia.

Silberbauer - unlucky, when he hit the crossbar

All photos ©Royal League - Per Kjærbye

Matchfacts:
BRØNDBY-F.C. COPENHAGEN 1-0 (1-0)
38.: 1-0 Martin Ericsson, penalty
Attendance: 17.914

F.C. Copenhagen: Jesper Christiansen - Lars Jacobsen, Brede Hangeland, Dan Thomassen, Oscar Wendt - Michael Silberbauer, Hjalte Nørregaard (64.: Michael Gravgaard), William Kvist, Jesper Grønkjær - Atiba Hutchinson, Fredrik Berglund (64.: Ailton Almeida). (Un-used substitutes: Niclas Jensen, Morten Bertolt, Jeppe Brandrup, Lasse Qvist, Thomas Villadsen)

Bookings: Jesper Grønkjær and Lars Jacobsen