July 22, 2023
With rain disrupting the Manchester Ashes Test match, it was an opportunity to take in a game from the opening weekend of the new Superliga season in Denmark.
These diaries have twice previously dipped its toes into the Superliga waters, firstly in November 2021 with a round-up of Week 17 in the 2021/22 season, which gave the opportunity to recount all four of the matches I have watched in Denmark, and then a review of a match between Vejle and Aarhus in February 2022.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2021/11/review-denmark-202122-superliga-round-17.html
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2022/02/vejle-bk-3-2-agf-aarhus-att-7121.html
The Superliga is a 12 team competition who play each other twice for a 22 game regular season. After this, the top 6 teams split into Championship play-off for 10 more matches, carrying forward the points earned from the regular season. The other 6 form the relegation play-off group, with the bottom two sides being relegated. The highest placed side in the relegation play-off table has a chance of qualifying for the Europa Conference via a play-off. Newcomers to the division this season are Hvidovre and Vejle, back after one season in the Second tier.
FC Kobenhavn are often referred to as FCK, or FC Copenhagen in English and have a nickname of The Lions. They have won the last two Superliga titles, and have a record 15 in total. As champions, FCK are exempt to the 2nd Qualifying Round of the UEFA Champions League, where they will face Icelandic side Breidablik, who have already won 4 matches in the competition to get to this stage, including becoming the first ever side to come through the preliminary round to win a first qualifying tie.
In the review from November 2021, FCK won 3-1 at Aalborg, with much of the attention on 16 year old Roony Bardghji, who in his second game became the youngest ever scorer in the Superliga and gave a scintillating display. Roony is still with the club and has now made 31 appearances. Of the other players mentioned in despatches in that report, Polish keeper Kamil Grabara, midfielder Lukas Lerager ( 10 caps ) and full-back Peter Ankersen ( 25 caps ) are still with the club. Bardghji and Ankersen were only on the bench today though.
However, midfielder William Boving, who was 18 at the time, is now with Sturm Graz, striker Jonas Wind ( 19 caps ) is now playing for VFL Wolfsburg and Spanish attacking midfielder Pep Biel has joined Olympiakos.
From the squad that won the league last season, Iceland midfielder Hakon Arnar Haraldsson ( 11 caps ) has been sold to Lille for a reported €12M, Greek midfielder Zeca ( 33 caps ) has joined Panathinaikos and New Zealander Marko Stemenic ( 14 caps ) has signed for Red Star Belgrade.
The newcomers to the FCK so far are ex-Schalke Swedish forward Jordan Larsson ( 7 caps ), who cost €2M, and keeper Theo Sander for €1M from Aalborg. Last season’s top scorer, Swedish midfielder Viktor Claessen ( 69 caps ) was missing today, presumably injured.
One familiar name in the FCK starting line-up was Andreas Cornelius ( 44 caps ), who briefly played for Cardiff City when they were in the Premier League, before resurrecting his reputation at Atalanta, Bordeaux, Parma and Trabzonspor. Portuguese attacking midfielder Diogo Goncalves has played for Benfica and Nottingham Forest, Slovak defender Denis Vavro had a spell at Lazio and Dutch full-back Kevin Diks played for Vitesse Arnhem and Feyenoord in his home country. Defensive midfielder Rasmus Falk has won 2 caps for Denmark.
In their first season back in the Superliga, Lyngby avoided relegation with a last day 0-0 at draw Horsens, which saved them and condemned Horsens instead. Aalborg’s 0-1 home loss to Silkeborg also helped Lyngby beat the drop as Aalborg missed the opportunity to overtake Lyngby.
Lyngby are also referred at the Royal Blues or the Vikings, and have two titles to their name, although the last was way back in 1992. They play at the 10,000 capacity Lyngby Stadion which has a grass pitch. The ground looks a lot different to when I visited in 1994 and the running track seems to have disappeared ! Hopefully the tasty grilled sausages are still available………
Lyngby is located in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, so FCK faced a journey of 12km from their Parken Stadium.
The most notable name in the Lyngby squad is ex-Augsburg, Real Sociedad and Heerenveen Icelandic striker Alfred Finnbogasin ( 67 caps ), whose most famous moment was probably his goal in the 2018 World Cup in his country’s 1-1 draw with Argentina.
Two other Icelanders were in the starting line-up. Winger/wing-back Kollbein Finnsson ( 2 caps ) had a short spell at Brentford, and forward Saevar Alti Magnusson ( 4 caps ). Danish centre-back Andreas Bjelland ( 29 caps ) is another Lyngby player who has represented Brentford, as well as Twente Enschede.
Defender Pacal Gregor played for the Danish Olympic side in 2016, and highly rated defender Lucas Hey is a current Under 21 Danish international.
Lyngby averaged home attendances of 5,887 in the 2022/23 regular season and 6,390 in the relegation round. In comparison, FCK recorded an average of 27,385, and 32,102 in the championship round.
The temperature at 16.00 local kick-off time was 19 degrees with showers forecast, but it was dry at kick-off. Tickets for the match ranged from 120 DKK to stand, 130 DKK for a seat, or 150DKK at the gate ( £14 to £17 ). Concessions varied between 90-120 DKK ( £10.50 to £14 ) and close to a full-house was expected with only a small number of tickets available on the day.
The match was streamed live on onefootball.com and Bet365.com, who made FCK 8/13 favourites, with Lyngby at 9/2 and the draw at 3/1.
Lyngby were in blue shirts with white shorts, whilst FCK were in all-white with blue trimmings. The kick-off was delayed for a short time as the ground staff tried to remove the ticket-tape that had been thrown onto the pitch, but when the game did start, the home side made a bright start.
After 2 minutes, a short corner routine enabled Romer to whip in a cross into the danger zone, but Cornelius, back helping out his defence, managed to hoof clear. A minute later a long throw was only headed out to the edge of the area by Lund, where Magnusson was waiting to shot left-footed, but Grabara made the save. Storm then skipped past Diks but his low cross was forced off for a corner.
FCK were hardly in the game in the opening 10 minutes, but after 12 minutes Goncalves turned on the edge of the Lyngby area and shot a few feet wide.
The game’s most controversial moment came in the 15th minute. A long ball from Finnsson toward the Copenhagen area was poorly headed away by Vavro and Finnbogarson took one touch and then sent the ball bouncing into the bottom corner from just over 20 yards. With the ball taking a slight deflection off Lund, keeper Grabara had no chance.
However, VAR checked for a potential off-side, and ruled that Gytkjaer had been a milimetre off-side when the ball was played into the FCK half, and despite not playing the ball, was deemed to be off-side. I don’t know if the guidelines have changed in the close season, but the goal would not have been disallowed in England last season.
Having made a vibrant start Lyngby could justifiably feel hard done by, and would have fully deserved to have taken the lead.
Vavro’s uncertain beginning continued as he wildly sent a long range effort at least 30 yards over the bar, and FCK’s jittery defending continued as they backed away from Gytkjaer, allowing the Lyngby forward to advance to the edge of the area, but his effort went inches wide.
FCK were finally to enjoy a period of possession and took some of the heat out of the home side’s attacks. Diks played a ball down the left channel for Falk to run onto but the cross from close to be by-line was too high for Cornelius.
Bizarrely, a water break was taken after 34 minutes, and held up play for over three minutes. It seemed more like a tactical time out in American Football !
Gradually, the game was tilting in Copenhagen’s favour, but Larsson’s shot from the edge of the area was straight at keeper Kikkenborg and was easily saved. Diks then had a free header from a Goncalves free-kick which the keeper saved at the second attempt, grabbing the ball as Lerager was about to pounce.
As the rain started to fall on the stroke of half-time, FCK won a corner, and the delivery from Goncalves was met by Valdemar Lund at the near post, getting ahead of Chukwuani and Hey, to head home from 6 yards to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Lyngby were rocked and in the second minute of first half added time, they failed to deal with another corner into the 6 yard box and Goncalves had time to control on his thigh before hammering left-footed against the crossbar.
The possession statistics at half-time showed that FCK had 61% of the possession but Lyngby had looked the better side for most of the half, apart from the last five minutes.
The interval lasted 20 minutes, perhaps they were waiting for the rain to stop, for when the game finally resumed, the sun was shining again !
Cornelius and Bjelland were having a fierce battle, wrestling or kicking lumps out of each other, with the referee letting them get on with it and letting play flow.
FCK started where they had left off in the first half, and Diks had a threatening long-range shot bouncing goalwards, which Kikkenborg save low down by his post.
Finnbogarson then showed some nice trickery and skill to set-up a chance for Gytkjaer but he was crowded out before he could get a shot in. Lyngby were building up a head of steam and Magnusson got to the by-line, but his dangerous low cross was blocked for a corner by the outstretched leg of Lund. Chukwani then skipped past Falk and found Gytkjaer, whose chip to the far post was volleyed by Finnsson into the side netting.
A major turning point came in the 54th minute when Diks went down after a slight challenge from Storm and won a penalty. His heel may have been clipped but the Dutchman’s exaggerated fall suggested he had been shot by a sniper in the stands. It was very soft but as there was some contact, VAR was never going to overturn the decision, and Goncalves sent the keeper the wrong way from the spot to double FCK’s lead.
To their credit, Lyngby refused to lay down and a flowing moving involving Gytkjaer and Finnsson created a one-on-one for Finnbogarson, but Grabara made an important save with his legs to deny the Icelander and the rebound was blasted over the bar by Magnusson.
The game was now very open and a through pass from Larsson gave Goncalves a sight of goal, but his low shot on the run was saved at the second attempt by Kikkenborg. Diks then went marauding down the left and his cross-cum shot could only be parried out to Lerager, whose goalbound attempt was blocked by Bjelland.
FCK could have gone three-up as with the referee playing two advantages to FCK for fouls, the Lyngby players mostly stopped expecting the whistle as Cornelius played in Larsson, but the ex-Schalke man hurriedly sliced high and wide from just inside the area.
The miss proved to be costly as three minutes later Lyngby pulled a goal-back after a scramble in the FCK area. Chukwuani played a nice chip into space on the right where Kumado gathered and played in to Magnusson. With his back to goal, Magnusson laid the ball back to Dani who went for goal. His attempt was off target but Finnbogarson stuck out a foot to deflect the ball onto the post, and with Grabara stranded, he reacted quickly to tap the ball into the empty goal.
With twenty minutes to find an equaliser, Lyngby swarmed forward. Magnusson spun past Jelert close to the by-line but from a tight angle shot into the side netting. With nine minutes remaining Hey met a deep cross beyond the far post to head the ball back across the face of goal, where Chukwuani teed up Finnbogarson, but the normally reliable striker lacked composure and sliced over the bar from close to the penalty spot.
The final few minutes were a siege as crossed rained into the Copenhagen penalty area, but somehow they managed to keep the ball out, despite Grabara dropping a cross as his equivalent number was causing chaos coming up to try and claim an equaliser. The last play of the game was another mad scramble inside the 6 yard box and the stretching Gytkjaer just couldn’t reach the loose ball with hit Grabara, who knew very little about it, and the ball rebounded away to safety.
The final whistle sounded shortly after to give the champions a win in their first game of the season. It’s an old adage that champions pick up three points when they play badly, and it is always dangerous to ready too much into the first match of the season, but on this evidence FCK will need to improve enormously if they are to claim a third consecutive title, as only Goncalves, Diks, Lund and Grabara put in decent performances today.
Lyngby fully deserved to take at least a point today but need to convert more of their chances. Overall though, it was a very entertaining game for the neutral to watch.
Highlights : https://superliga.dk/kampe/2023-2024/lyngby-boldklub-f-c-kobenhavn-22-07-2023
Lyngby BK : Kikkenborg – Gregor, Bjelland ( Hamalainen ), Hey – Storm ( Kumado ), Romer ( Dani ), Magnusson, Chukwuani ( Corlu ), Finnsson ( Dalugge ) – Gytkjaer, Finnbogarson
FC Kobenhavn : Grabara – Jelert, Vavro, Lund, Diks – Lerager ( O.Hojlund ), Clem, Falk – Larsson ( Bardghji ), Cornelius ( E.Hojlund ), Goncalves ( Johannesson )
