FCK - Man. United 1-0 (0-0)

After 343 goalless minutes in Champions League, Marcus Allbäck broke the deadlock when he scrambled the ball over the line from close range. And seventeen nervous, nail biting, cold-sweating and hair-raising minutes later it turned up to secure a sensational victory against Manchester United!

 

Ståle Solbakken had decided to move midfielder Atiba Hutchinson up front along Marcus Allbäck and re-elect U21-international Martin Bergvold, who scored twice against Vejle at Sunday. Alex Ferguson had to do without the injured Neville, Giggs and Saha, and chose to change the team who hammered Bolton at Saturday on two more positions: O’Shea played instead of Scholes, and Vidic instead of Ferdinand.

 

On a freezing cold November evening, when storm and snow suddenly had hit most of Seeland, F.C. Copenhagen opened aggressively and well-organized, while it took most of the first quarter for United to get into the game. Alex Ferguson later revealed that it took time to adjust to the muddy pitch.

 

 

Michael Silberbauer challenging Gabriel Heinze

 

 

It was evident that the home team – as usual roared on by enthusiastic fans - had learned from the game at Old Trafford. Less respect, more confidence – and a more tight defence which kept United away from the open chances, they created in the first game. Tobias Linderoth and Hjalte Nørregaard dominated in the central midfield against Carrick and O’Shea, while the team struggled to make any offensive impact.

 

In the middle of the first half United began to produce chances, and Wayne Rooney came nearest when he headed just over the crossbar. After half an hour Brede Hangeland was booked for tripping Ronaldo, and shortly after the Portuguese surprisingly avoided a card himself, when he kicked the ball away long after the whistle had gone.

 

Rooney had another good effort after Solskjær smartly had jumped over a cross from the right, but in general it was a tight and even game throughout the first half, and the official match statistic said 52 % ball possession for the home team.

 

 

Captain Tobias Linderoth - non-stop running and fighting in central midfield 

 

 

Ferguson made a planned substitution for the second half when Ferdinand came on for Vidic, but he couldn’t prevent Michael Gravgaard from a fine header after another Lars Jacobsen-corner only two minutes after the break. But van der Sar had no trouble catching the ball.

 

United struck back right away following a good run through the middle by Ronaldo, before he found Solskjær on the right side, but Jesper Christiansen came out and secured the ball with a fine save. After 10 minutes Rooney set up O’Shea with a perfect cross, but from close range he side-kicked the ball way outside the post, and the home fans began to wonder, if – against all odds - it might be possible to keep a clean sheet for the fourth consecutive game.

 

Several Copenhagen key-players began to look tired, still not being quite used to play two games a week month after month. Consequently Ståle Solbakken introduced striker Fredrik Berglund for Martin Bergvold and later William Kvist for Michael Silberbauer, but United – bringing on Scholes for Fletcher - had a tight grip of the game in this period.

 

Then suddenly it all changed within a minute. Kvist eagerly hunted a long ball from Nørregaard down the right side and forced Silvestre to play it back to van der Sar, and when the Dutch keeper returned the ball to Silvestre in a rather harmless position, it simply slid under his foot and over the sideline for a throw-in. This ended with a corner from the right side, and even though Gravgaard outjumped the defence, he only managed to direct the ball towards the furthest corner flag.

 

However, Nørregaard refused to give up and reached the ball on the line and produced a fine cross which Atiba Hutchinson headed towards goal. Not very hard, not very precise, and luckily Marcus Allbäck was at the right spot at the right time and in two attempts managed to flick the ball over the line, before Heinze and van der Sar could interfere.

 

 

IT'S ON IT'S WAY... Marcus Allbäck making history!

 

 

PARKEN exploded in a gigantic roar of excitement, knowing that they were witnessing a historic moment for the only 14 year old club: not only Copenhagen’s first Champions League-goal ever – but a realistic chance to conquer the Premier League-leaders.

 

But first they had to survive 16 minutes, which one could suspect would be almost like the English bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807… but even though United came to a couple of chances, the heroic fighting Danes were not constantly under siege. And maybe Ferguson – like Lord Nelson in the first Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 - put the telescope to the blind eye, when he replaced Silvestre with Evra instead of introducing an offensive player…

 

However, there were two moments when the hearts stood still in PARKEN – first when Rooney beautifully found Scholes with an accurate pass which left him with only Christiansen to beat, but the keeper rushed out with determination and brilliantly blocked the ball, when Scholes tried to chip it past him. And secondly in the dying minutes of extra time, when another fine Rooney-effort was directed into the net by Ronaldo from close range, but the flag had correctly gone for offside even before the ball crossed the line.

 

Finally Wolfgang Stark blew the whistle for the very last time, and the exhausted Copenhagen players could start celebrating with their fans, who almost couldn’t believe their own eyes: F.C. Copenhagen 1, Manchester United 0.

 

 

Jesper Christiansen denied United with a world class performance

 

 

After the game Ståle Solbakken admitted that Copenhagen had had that amount of luck, which is necessary for the Danish champions to shatter a top team from the Premier League – but of course he was very proud of his team’s performance, and he insisted that they really had believed that it was possible to get a point or three from the game. With the result in Lisbon the group is open again, and it is a big achievement in itself to know that advancement to the round of 16 is within reach before the last two games against Benfica and Celtic.

 

In Solbakkens opinion Copenhagen are small favourites in the last game against Celtic in Copenhagen, while they need another little miracle to get a good result in Lisbon.

 

November 1st 2006 will always remind Copenhagen fans about Walt Disney’s motto: "If you can dream it, you can do it". Even if you're not at the Theatre of Dreams!

 

Photos by Carl Redhead

 

Matchfacts:
F.C. Copenhagen-Manchester United 1-0 (0-0)
73.: 1-0 Marcus Allbäck
Attendance: 40.308

F.C. Copenhagen: Jesper Christiansen – Lars Jacobsen, Brede Hangeland, Michael Gravgaard, Oscar Wendt – Michael Silberbauer (71.: William Kvist), Tobias Linderoth, Hjalte Nørregaard, Martin Bergvold (67.: Fredrik Berglund) - Atiba Hutchinson, Marcus Allbäck (89.: Dan Thomassen). (Unused substitutes: Benny Gall, Razak Pimpong)

 

Booked: Brede Hangeland and Cristiano Ronaldo