Resilient FC Copenhagen draw Barcelona in Denmark
FC Copenhagen put on a gutsy performance to eke out a 1-1 draw against Spanish giants Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday, 2 November.
Lionel Messi put the Spaniards team ahead in the Danish capital but Claudemir swiftly cancelled out the Argentine's strike before the sides narrowly contained other in the second half.
"We played exceptionally well in the first half," Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola said after the game before praising the opposition. "But in my two and a half years in charge of Barcelona we have never come
up against a physically stronger team as this one. I'm extremely satisfied with the performance. We defended very well, especially against [their] long throws."
Copenhagen show intent early on
Copenhagen pressured their visitors early on when Claudemir ran onto a loose ball 30 yards out, hitting a shot that thumped against the top of Victor Valdes' left post before going out of touch.
Valdes could only observe the Brazilian's strike, but he was forced to make two successive saves from Martin Vingaard as Copenhagen exercised their set-piece play from corner kicks.
With 22 minutes played, Copenhagen keeper Kim Christensen impressed by pawing David Villa's strike onto the frame of the goal.
On the half-hour mark, Seydou Keita headed a ball down into the path of Villa, who failed to take the ball in his stride before it fell to Messi, who was charging into the box from the right channel.
The striker took a quick touch and hit a right-footed strike that Wiland parried onto the post before it went in. It was the sublime striker's 62nd goal in as many appearances for Barcelona.
But after only one minute, Stale Solbakken's resurgent side were level. Former Chelsea winger Jesper Gronkjaer broke clear on the left side, sending a cross that Valdes could punch towards Claudemir, whose
cushioned volley found the far corner.
Valdes and Wiland were kept on their toes in the entertaining fixture, with the former stopping from left-back Oscar Wendt while Wiland denied Messi on three occasions before the break.
N'Doye and Pedro both denied winners
Towards the end of the evenly contested second half, Wendt delivered a pinpoint cross for Dame N'Doye to head home inside the box, but the Senegalese's goal was ruled out for a push on a Barcelona defender.
Substitute Pedro Rodriguez got close to claiming a spectacular winning goal in the dying minutes, when his shot from the left-hand corner of the area crashed against the inside of the far post.
The draw leaves Barcelona at the top of Group D with eight points from four games. Copenhagen trail them by one point. Third-placed Rubin Kazan have three points, with Panathinaikos FC one point behind
the Russian team in the standings.
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