FCK U19 vs MSK Zilina: UEFA Youth League preview, stream details and more
F.C. Copenhagen's U19 side take on MSK Zilina in the UEFA Youth League last-16 on Monday at 4:30pm.
The game will be broadcast live on TV3 Sport and Viaplay.
Head coach Morten Bisgaard has taken a 20-man squad to Slovakia, with a maximum 18 players permitted for selection.
Oscar Buur (GK)
Tobias Breum-Harild (GK)
Hjalte Bidstrup
Tristan Andrew
Nicolai Blicher
Axel Halsgaard
Cornelius Olsson
Ethan Amundsen-Day
William Glindtvad
Andreas Clasen
Oliver Højer
Hunor Vajk Németh
Neo Jonsson
Tamás Szücs
Jonathan Moalem
Queyrell Tchicamboud
Galdur Gudmundsson
Emil Hojlund
Amin Chiakha
Roberto Risnæs
Ethan Amundsen-Day and Emil Højlund are the only new additions compared to the 20 who were in Morocco last week. U17 players David Katlego and Graham Ankamafio make way for the pair.
The game goes straight to penalties if it is a draw after 90 minutes. It will take place at Stadion MSK Zilina, where the FCK first team also played a Champions League qualifier in the summer of 2017 (where Denis Vavro was still playing for the Slovaks) and won 3-1 via an Andrija Pavlovic hat-trick.
Today's match quickly sold out, which means up to 12,000 fans will be in the stands.
The road to the last-16
Our U19 team qualified via the Champions League Path. They competed in the group stage with the same three teams that the first team faced in the Champions League. Our results were as follows:
- a 5-1 Galatasaray (Chiakha 2, Sahsah, Højlund, Szücs)
- h 3-2 Bayern Munich (Sahsah 2, Højlund)
- a 1-0 Manchester United (Tchicamboud)
- h 2-2 Manchester United (Højlund pen., Chiakha)
- a 1-2 Bayern Munich (Chiakha)
- h 6-0 Galatasaray (Tchicamboud 2, Bidstrup, Chiakha, Nemeth, Risnæs)
As group winners, we progressed directly to the last-16.
MSK Zilina
The Slovaks entered the Youth League as national champions and played two playoff rounds in the autumn, after which they progressed to February's playoff round. Their results were as follows:
- 4 October 1-0 away vs Paphos
- 25 October 5-0 home vs Paphos
- 8 November 2-2 away vs Sparta Prague
- 29 November 4-4 home vs Sparta Prague (4-3 pens.)
- 7 February 2-1 home vs Dortmund
The Zilina team
MSK Zilina became Slovak U19 champions in the 2022/23 season, but are currently sixth in the table before it kicks off again in the spring in March.
The team is coached by 46-year-old Ivan Belák, who played for Zilina and earned four caps for Slovakia 20 years ago.
The team that started against Dortmund is quite a bit older than our team:
- Born in 2004: 3 players
- Born in 2005: 7 players
- Born in 2006: 1 player
Teams in the Youth League are permitted a maximum of three players born as late as 2004 in their 20-man squad, and Zilina have taken full advantage of that.
By comparison, here was the make-up of FCK's starting XI for the last group game of the autumn against Galatasaray:
- Year 2005: 5 (Dithmer, Halsgaard, Jørgensen, Højlund, Tchicamboud)
- Year 2006: 4 (Bidstrup, Olsson, Andrew, Chiakha)
- Year 2007: 2 (Højer, Nemeth)
Potential next opponents
Whoever team advances today will face the winner of FC Nantes vs RB Salzburg away from home in the quarter-finals, which will also be played over one leg.
The date for that match is either 12 or 13 March.
Other last-16 games
- AZ Alkmaar vs FC Porto (Tue. 4pm)
- Mainz vs Manchester City (Tue. 6pm)
- Olympiacos vs Lens (Wed. 2pm)
- AC Milan vs Braga (Wed. 2:30pm)
- RB Salzburg vs Nantes (Wed. 3pm)
- Bayern vs Feyenoord (Wed. 4pm)
- Real Madrid vs RB Leipzig (Wed. 6pm)