Svensson reacts to 0-0 draw in Turku

F.C. Copenhagen earned a battling 0-0 draw at FC Inter Turku on Thursday to keep the UEFA Conference League playoff finely in the balance heading into next week's reverse leg in Parken.

Marcos López and Robert Silva both went close for the Lions, while Alex Rúnarsson made two good saves before half time in Finland.

After the match, which was played on artificial turf, head coach Bo Svensson said: "It was just as difficult as expected against a good team that is used to playing on this surface.

"We got a result so we can finish the job in Parken, where I expect a completely different match to tonight. But the pitch should not be an excuse, it's just different to play on.

"I'm pleased that we kept a clean sheet again, and I think we looked stable in our defensive organisation. But we had a hard time on the ball, and offensively we didn't get that many chances.

"We chose not to go up and press them so high, because we saw how Basaksehir were punished for that, so we stood lower so as not to give space to their fast attackers. They had a few big chances, which Alex saved excellently – he had a great, flawless game today, and we also had a big chance for López, but otherwise there weren't many big chances in the match.

"In general, it was probably a mediocre FCK performance, where there were a lot we would have liked to have done better. But as I said, we got a result here in the middle of a tight and tough schedule that requires a lot of changes to several of our key players."

Next up for the Lions is a trip to Viborg in the Danish Superliga on Sunday, before we welcome Turku to Parken next Thursday (7pm) for the second leg of our Conference League playoff.

Tickets for the Turku game are still available to buy online at billet.fck.dk.

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