The opening match of the 3rd preliminary round of the Champions League ended goalless in Copenhagen on Tuesday. Rematch is scheduled for Tuesday in Prague, but both rivals had to quickly adjust to their home league first.
Copenhagen is already done. Coach Neestrup made five changes to the starting line-up against Sparta. However, since the match with Odense did not develop according to his expectations and the guests even took the lead, gradually all five players who were in the starting line-up against Sparta got up from the bench and came to save the match.
Finally successful. First substitute Lerager equalized, then Achúri turned the score around at the very end.
Danish Football League – 4th round: FC Copenhagen – Odense 2:1 (0:0) Goals: 77. Lerager, 90. Achúri – 57. Nouck. Copenhagen: Grabara – Jelert, Vavro, Boilesen (58. C. Sörensen) , Diks – Claesson (58. Falk), Clem (74. Lerager), Goncalves – Bardghji (46. Elyounoussi), Óskarsson (58. Larsson), Achúri. Coach: Neestrup.
“We keep our cool and don’t stress even when we lose, but we continue to create many attacking opportunities against a team that just defends towards the end. I wasn’t even too nervous when it was still 1:1. I believed until the end that we could win,” says coach Jacob Neestrup.
In the end, his boys also squeezed Sparta in front of their own goal with a generous contribution from the substitute players. And history repeated itself in front of 25,000 spectators on Friday.
“We’re showing again the importance of having a wide and hungry bench with players who will step in and pick up where others left off. And when Boilesen is back with the skills he has, we now also have a competitive situation in the area of central defenders, which was missing when he and Chočolava were out,” the coach welcomes the return of the key stopper, who did not play against Sparta, and waits for his Georgian partner .
As for Tuesday’s return, Copenhagen will complete their pre-match training in Denmark on Monday before flying to Prague in the late afternoon.