FCK Weekly News: 18th – 24th October
All eyes were on Spain this week as F.C. Copenhagen flew out with a squad of 21 players to Barcelona on Tuesday, for their third game in Group D of the UEFA Champions League. Confidence was high following a winning streak of seven consecutive games...
by Joe Short
At the pre-match press conference in the heart of the Nou Camp on Tuesday evening, head coach Ståle Solbakken described his feelings towards FCK’s upcoming match against the Spanish champions:
- This is really big for the team. My players are in great shape, and we know they (Barcelona) will play at a great tempo in their home ground. It will be a great experience for our players.
- If it is going to be, it’s going to be tomorrow. If we are going to beat Barcelona, it will be with this team. We have some players who are daft enough to think we can win it.
An estimated 7,000 Danes were in attendance at the Camp Nou on Wednesday evening, as the players – lead out by captain William Kvist – entered the 90,000+ arena to great welcome.
The Copenhagen faithful were allocated a large section of the uppermost sixth tier of the stadium, but this could not deter their songs from filling the rest of the ground.
A tense game of ifs and maybes
The game began well for FCK, who were quickest to get going and got the first effort in on goal from Zdenek Pospech. However, on four minutes David Villa clipped the crossbar with a deft chip, and Barcelona got into their stride. Indeed, after a quarter of an hour, Lionel Messi found space for himself outside the Copenhagen penalty area, to fire a swerving shot into Johan Wiland’s right hand corner to make it 1-0 to the Catalonians.
F.C. Copenhagen refused to let this early goal affect them however, and may have scored after Cesar Santin beat the offside trap to run through on goal. However, the striker pulled up short of the ball, and in the confusion Barcelona regained possession. The reason for Santin stopping: a whistle heard from within the stadium that was not the referees.
In the second half Barcelona took control of possession but made very little use of it, as the Lions progressed forward on several opportunities. Arguably their best chance came in the 66th minute when Dame N’Doye stealthily turned his marker Carlos Puyol and thundered a half volley at goal. The ball struck the underside of goalkeeper Jose Pinto’s crossbar, and looped into the path of unmarked Santin. However, the Brazilian’s header sailed agonizingly wide of the open goal.
“We lose with pride today”
The game was wrapped up in injury time thanks to a Messi scramble in the box which made it 2-0, after Daniel Alvez had struck the base of Wiland’s far post just seconds before. Although his side had eventually gone down on the night, Solbakken was still resolutely proud of his team’s performance:
- The better team won. We had trouble in the first half for 20 minutes, as the tempo was too high for us. The second half: a tremendous performance. We had the same amount of chances as Barcelona [in the second half] and got used to the tempo. The players can be proud of themselves tonight. All in all I am satisfied. We lose with pride today; something you can learn a lot from in this game.
- Obviously if you have three or four chances you should get one of them. Some of the counter attack opportunities ended up as nothing, and in fact ended up as a counter attack the other way.
From Catalonia to Jutland
On Thursday, Solbakken was called in to FCK’s podcast edition of Lion Hour to discuss all matters Copenhagen. Among the prospect of playing FC Barcelona again in the Champions League, the question of preparation for Sunday’s trip to Silkeborg IF also came up:
- It is not a major problem (adapting to life back in the Superliga). We have generally, I think, always got points in the games that lay before and after a European match, and you know the boys well. The league is our “bread and butter” as legendary Bill Shankley once said.
Therefore on Sunday FCK went into their away match in Silkeborg with as strong a team as they had for the Nou Camp. Indeed, only one change was made in the starting XI; Christian Bolaños replacing Jesper Grønkjær on the wing, who was given the weekend off to rest.
Quick start the key to victory
The match started well for the Danish champions, who almost took the lead in the opening ten minutes, but Pospech’s well-hit effort from outside the penalty area rattled off the Silkeborg crossbar and away from goal. In the 17th minutes FCK made it 1-0 however, thanks to a skilful passing move between N’Doye and Claudemir, which eventually set Santin through to blast home the opener.
There was an odd injury scare in the 24th minute as N’Doye, having just missed a one-on-one opportunity, slipped on the advertising boards behind the goal and appeared to fall on his chin. The striker was provided with lengthy treatment on the sideline, but was well enough to continue shortly afterwards. This good fortune could not be reciprocated in Santin however, as the striker limped off the field just before half time after being on the receiving end of a challenge by Dennis Flinta, which earned the defender a yellow card.
Santin did not emerge for the second half: Søren Frederiksen replacing the striker, who will have a scan on Monday to reveal the damage of a suspected sprained ankle. F.C. Copenhagen made it 2-0 just before the hour. N’Doye picked up a pass from Frederiksen to turn and play a ball over the top to Martin Vingaard. The winger took a touch to bring the ball under control before firing under the goalkeeper calm and collectively.
Sölvi Ottesen, still recovering from a broken arm sustained last month, came on for the remaining 20 minutes and almost got on the score sheet himself, while Bolaños bagged his first goal for the club and sealed a 3-0 win with a neat left-footed effort into the bottom corner of the Silkeborg goal.
No Camp Nou hangover
After the match, Mikael Antonsson rejected any idea that the players were at all jaded from their trip across Europe in midweek:
- I was perfectly fine physically, and I do not think we felt the effects of the Barcelona match. We started well and played well in the first half. It was important to get ahead, because otherwise they are difficult to play against. In the second half we played even better and I think we had full control of the match, even before we scored to make it 2-0.
- Defensively I think we did fine. We had a pre-match discussion about their dangerous set pieces, which came to a couple of chances, but I think we had a good grip on them throughout the match.
The win saw the Lions extend their lead at the top of the Superliga table to fourteen points, but Solbakken’s side must now once again change attention to a different competition. On Wednesday FCK play AC Horsens in the Ekstra Bladet Cup fourth round tie at PARKEN. Tickets are still available for the 20:00 kick off, which can be bought at billetlugen.dk.
Danish International winger Martin Vingaard celebrating his goal in the 3-0-win against Silkeborg,
which sent F.C. Copenhagen 14 points ahead at the top of the Danish Superliga
Photo: Lars Møller, Sportsagency.dk
