Neestrup: 'I'm extremely proud'
Jacob Neestrup says he is supremely proud of his players after they bowed out of the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Manchester City on Wednesday.
FCK's European campaign began in July with a qualifier against Breidablik. The Lions got through three qualifying rounds and a group stage consisting of Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Galatasaray to reach the last-16.
Wednesday's 3-1 defeat to City means FCK now have just the Superliga to focus on. But Neestrup reserved some thought for this remarkable European campaign.
"I'm extremely proud," he said. "I think we did everything we could and we deserved to play those two (knockout) games.
"We were the second-best team in the group with Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Galatasaray, no doubt. I wasn't proud of the first game we played in Parken (against City) because we were too far away from the expression that brought us to the round of 16. But that was a match against Manchester City when we hadn't played a competitive match for two months.
"I think the game we put together today was good after a difficult start. I am proud of the campaign because it's a long, long campaign. You guys from England, if you win the Premier League you get Champions League next season. If you're second, third or fourth there's Champions League next season. If you're the Danish champion you need to travel to Iceland, Czech Republic, Poland just to get in the group stage.
"So it is a long, long European campaign. We played Sparta Prague in qualification and they play Liverpool this week – a great, great team. This campaign was not just the group stage or the two games against City, it was also about the opponents we played before the group stage who were tough to play against."
The head coach also reserved praise for defending European champions City, adding: "We've played them two seasons in a row and they are getting better. They have top individual players, both those on the pitch and the bench.
"At the same time the structure they have collectively is amazing.
"What I take with me after playing City across two games is they work hard, they work f*cking hard. Not all top teams do that. Their football brain, their technical and tactical part (is there) but they also work hard."