Danes' late equaliser
|
Match Stats
|
|
Valencia
|
FC Copenhagen
|
|
Shots (on Goal)
|
12(9)
|
8(3)
|
|
Fouls
|
10
|
16
|
|
Corner Kicks
|
7
|
6
|
|
Offsides
|
7
|
1
|
|
Time of Possession
|
49%
|
51%
|
|
Yellow Cards
|
0
|
1
|
|
Red Cards
|
0
|
0
|
|
Saves
|
4
|
10
|
|
Match Information
|
Stadium:
Mestalla, Spain
Attendance: 20,000
Match Time: 20:30 UK
Official(s):
Knut Kircher (Referee)
|
Updated: November 6, 2008, 8:00 AM UK
VALENCIA, November 6 (UEFA Cup) - FC Copenhagen struck a late equaliser to deny Valencia a winning start to their UEFA Cup Group G campaign on Thursday night.
Los Che, having had a blank week in the opening round of fixtures, had looked set to take all three points thanks to Fernando Morientes' 60th-minute tap-in, but Cesar Santin's goal five minutes from the end saw the spoils shared.
Valencia came into the match stung by the loss of their unbeaten league start at home to Racing Santander at the weekend and they looked a team with something to prove early on against FC Copenhagen.
Only good goalkeeping and bad luck prevented Valencia from storming into a 3-0 lead, with Edu and Vicente both being denied by fine saves from Jesper Christiansen before Edu saw his header crash against the crossbar.
That was all in the opening 14 minutes, but Copenhagen survived and had a great chance of their own to take the lead in the 27th minute.
However, having seemingly done all the hard work after breaking clear of the Valencia defence, Ailton Almeida wasted the chance after stabbing over as Renan Brito came out to meet him.
The Danish visitors had a similarly good opening at the start of the second half after the opening period had failed to produce a goal.
This time it was Cesar Santin who had escaped in behind the home defence, but Renan was alert to the danger and raced out to block the Brazilian's effort.
It was Valencia who broke the deadlock on the hour mark though when prolific forward Morientes showed good predatory instincts to net.
Edu latched onto a cross from the left and although his shot was parried by Christiansen, Morientes, a three-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid, was on hand to slot home from three yards out.
That looked set to be the decisive goal, but Copenhagen had other ideas and Cesar Santin's late strike from Mikael Antonsson's headed pass denied the 2004 UEFA Cup winners and earned Stale Solbakken's side their first point after losing at home to St Etienne on matchday one.
Valencia 1 - 1 FC Copenhagen