Dramatic win!
The Lions donned their new European home shirt as coach Stale Solbakken named the same eleven that started against Borisov in the first leg a week ago. The Belarusian outfit in return named two changes, suspended defender Shitov being replaced by Sosnovski, and Olekhnovich by Bressan.
By Joe Short
The two sides came into the tie with all to play for after a 0-0 stalemate from the first leg in Belarus, and yet it took just two minutes for FCK to open the scoring on their own turf. Dame N’Doye picked up the ball in midfield and turned to play a delightful pass through to the on-running Cesar Santin. The Brazilian opened his body to coolly slot the ball in off the right hand post and celebrate with N’Doye and Claudemir dancing the samba.
BATE reacted well from their early shock – forcing two corners from the home side – but were easily collected by Johan Wiland, after an initial blocked cross by Claudemir forced the winger to receive treatment for a rib injury.
A one-man Santin counter attack came off the end of Borisov’s pressure; the forward wriggled past his man on the edge of the box, but his shot flew just over the crossbar. In return, neat play down the BATE left wing opened up an opportunity for Vitali Rodionov, but he squandered his chance on the edge of the 6-yard box.
Half way through the first half Copenhagen doubled their lead. A throw inside by Oscar Wendt found N’Doye who had dropped deep. His lay off was collected by William Kvist in midfield, who then created his own space to fire a 30-yard bullet past the BATE goalkeeper to the delight of the home crowd.
BATE took control of the possession after the second goal but made it count for little; Bressan creating the only chance in a dogged 10-minute spell. The FCK breach was finally broken however with five minutes before half time. Pavel Nekhaychik, running at Pospech, sent in a cross that deflected off the Czech. Antonsson was too slow to react as the ball sailed past his face to fall into Artyom Kontsevoi’s path, who slotted into the bottom right hand corner.
BATE’s spirits were visibly lifted by their goal, and just two minutes later they drew level. Nekhaychik collected before Pospech could reach him, twisted past Solvi Ottesen and quickly shot low past Wiland from the edge of the area.
What had started as a dream had rapidly become a nightmare, and Stale Solbakken will have been relieved by the sound of the half time whistle shortly after the re-start.
The second half began as a completely open battle. A deflected Rodionov strike suggested Borisov’s winning intensions; as a subsequent corner kick was headed over the crossbar by Pavlov. In response to the early pressure, Solbakken brought on Jesper Gronkjaer for Nørregaard, as Claudemir took a more central role in the middle of the park.
Shortly after the substitution, Gronkjaer played a neat ball through to Santin in the box, but the ball ran away from his before the striker could collect. Santin and N’Doye were both visibly causing the Borisov defense grief as they worked tirelessly to close down their opponents.
Their efforts were rewarded just before the hour mark. Santin played a delightful 1-2 with Claudemir outside the box, to then play a precise ball to N’Doye. The Senegalese used his strength to hold Yurevich at bay, before poking the ball past Veremko in goal. The mood of the home side was evident compared to last week in Belarus, and it was no doubt down to the fans who created a much needed vocal support for the Lions.
As BATE pressed forward looking for another equaliser, gaps began to appear in their back line. In the 71st minute Santin played Gronkjaer in, completely free on goal, but Veremko was quick to smother it. More pressure mounted as Borisov made an attacking substitution, but none of their efforts had the threat of Kvist’s in the first half.
Ottesen had to scramble away a decent effort from defender Bordachev, but it was Copenhagen who looked most likely to score in the final minutes of the game. N’Doye saw himself through on goal but could only timidly shoot straight at the keeper, while Sosnovski collected his second yellow card for a cynical foul on the goal scorer, who also had a chance in the dying seconds of the match but put it wide of the post.
Fortunately N’Doye’s miss was not essential, as shortly after Mark Clattenburg blew his whistle to draw the game to a close, and secure Copenhagen’s place in Friday’s Play Off stage of the UEFA Champions League.
