Manchester end of the road

A 2-2 draw in Copenhagen a week ago compelled the lions on the attack in Thursday’s UEFA Cup return leg against Manchester City. The game stayed goalless long into the second half but as the clock ticked by and forced, as they were to try to score, the Lions left more and more room in their own defence and unfortunately, City managed to exploit the increased vulnerability. Through two quick goals, they closed the lid on the tie well before Vingaards last-minute consolation goal.

By Lars Kristensen

Having recorded some impressive away wins in Europe in the last few years, the general feeling among the players was that they might just pull it off once more; however, it was not to be against the star-studded Manchester City. For the players, the immediate disappointment will probably give way to great pride as they look back on an extraordinary accomplishment; they have in fact gone further in European competition this year than ever before in the history of F.C. Copenhagen.

Hjalte Nørregaard

-  The game goes according to plan but towards the end as we push forward, they coolly execute on a couple of chances. They have some star players who are quite capable of creating something on their own. We tried but it was not enough – they were simply a better team.

Mathias Zanka Jørgensen

- The match develops just the way they want it to and they punish us as soon as we start taking chances. We really could not have done it any different. We faced a strong Permier League side against which we had to score and they were able to take advantage of that.

Chairman, Flemming Østergaard

- Losing is no fun of course but, admittedly, we did so to a better team that deservedly progress to the next round. We kept them at bay in the first half but in the second, when we began to open up, they exhibited some excellent counter-attacking. On the plus side, our team gains a lot of valuable experience from playing in Europe and, once again, we have shown that we can play at a high level. It is wonderful that two Danish teams have made it thus far and I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Aalborg on a fantastic result.

Most likely, F.C. Copenhagen will reappear in European competition next season as they are very much still in the race for a top spot in both of the domestic competitions. In the Ekstra Bladet Cup the Lions have reached the semi-finals and stand a good chance of making it to the final as they are set to meet 3rd level FC Nordvest. In the SAS Liga, sixteen games remain and F.C. Copenhagen is locked in a battle for the title with Brondby who currently lead by two points. The spring half of the season kicks off this weekend and incidentally, it begins with the traditional derby. Thus, a win away against Brondby on Monday will see F.C. Copenhagen take over the lead.

Game stats:

Manchester City FC – F.C. Copenhagen 2-1 (0-0)

Aggregate: 4 – 3

1-0 Bellamy (73)

2-0 Bellamy (80)

2-1 Vingaard (90)

Spectators: 26,018