FC Copenhagen vs. Barcelona - UEFA Champions League - Half Time Report (Part 1)
The Catalan giants were set to face the Danish Champions at their home ground as Pep Guardiola’s men travelled to Denmark to play the UEFA Champions League group stage match against FC Copenhagen. The sides were playing their best
eleven; however, Pedro Rodriguez was not seen in the starting line-up of the Catalan giants and it was Seydou Keita who took his place in the squad.
For the Catalan side, Victor Valdes stood guard between the two poles and the Spaniard acted as the goal stopper. Pep Guardiola did change the formation a bit as he only played three players at the back while five midfielders were
present to assist the two strikers up front. With Valdes acting as a goalkeeper, it was Eric Abidal, Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique who played as centre-backs for the club. There were five midfielders and that was the reason why the Catalan giants were dominating
in the centre of the pitch. With Daniel Alves playing in a floating role on the wings, it was David Villa who switched places with him on the flank. Lionel Messi was the one who floated around in the centre of pitch to help the team in scoring goals as he
featured as a centre-forward. Seydou Keita was playing as the sole centre midfielder as Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez played in the central attacking role. However, Sergio Busquets played at his holding midfield position and he was the one who assisted
the team by dropping in tackles and moving up front to help the team create chances.
On the other hand, the Danish Champions Copenhagen were playing their full squad. With Johan Wiland goalkeeping for the Danish side, Zybnek Pospech, Mikael Antonsson, Oscar Wendt and Mathias Zanka featured as defenders. Stale Solbakken
decided to play five midfielders as two featured as holding midfielders to stop the domination that the Catalan giants had in the midfield. William Kvist and Claudemir played as holding midfielders while Jesper Gronkjaer played in the centre midfield along
with Martin Vingaard. Christian Bolanos played as an attacking midfielder while Dame N’Doye featured as the sole striker for the home side.
When the match started, the stadium was filled with excitement as both the teams were fighting for the top spot in the UEFA Champions League. The home side were dominating from the start but it was Carles Puyol who took the first
bad tackle of the night as Bolanos struck him on the nose with an elbow. While Puyol was receiving treatment on the sideline, Claudemir struck an extraordinary shot which, unfortunately, only found the cross bar.
The Danish star Dame N’Doye took a blow during the 26th minute of the game as the striker got an opportunity to score a goal but while blocking the ball, Victor Valdes gave him a hard knee on the face. With the temperature
as low as 7 degrees centigrade in Denmark, the knee-kick knocked N’Doye out; however, a poor refereeing decision helped the Catalan giants take the free kick as the match carried on with N’Doye recovering well from the hard blow.
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