Lions return from international break with win over Vejle
Two goals from Viktor Claesson and a first-half Mohamed Elyounoussi strike earned F.C. Copenhagen a 3-1 win over Vejle on Friday, as the Danish Superliga returned to action following the international break.
Elyounoussi opened the scoring on 25 minutes after Robert Silva dispossessed Thomas Gundelund in the box.
Claesson made it 2-0 on the hour mark when rounding off a smart move from Andreas Cornelius and Robert. Kristian Kirkegaard got one back for the visitors with 12 minutes remaining, only for Claesson to pounce on a Magnus Mattsson free-kick that clattered off the woodwork to tap home FCK's third in stoppage time.
"Our first half was OK but not perfect," said head coach Jacob Neestrup afterwards. "There were several good moments, just as there were in the middle of the second half, but in general we can and must be better than we were in large parts of the match.
"It was a performance on our base level but the most important thing is still that we got the three points on such a night as this.
"Right after our second goal we had things under control, but then we completely lost control of the game and they scored. We finished well, though, and got the third goal.
"I see we're are currently top of the league and that is always a nice sight, but let's see where we are when the gameweek is over. We can't affect the other matches but can only focus on ourselves. We are good in terms of points and could easily have had a few more, even if the performances have fluctuated a little along the way.
"Now we have an hour's training match on Saturday, which is important for the players who didn't play today, and we will then focus all our attention on the Betis game on Thursday. We dropped unnecessary points against Jagiellonia, so we have to go there and get points, and then we can talk about the derby afterwards, because of course we know it's just around the corner when we get home."
Neestrup also reserved praise for Carlsberg's Man of the Match Robert, adding: "It was his first start in the Superliga after he started in the cup match against HB Køge. Perhaps we could have started him a little earlier. But we have many talented players in the squad, and Robert is a young guy who is far from home and also needs to be properly integrated. He is a lovely player with great potential who we believe in a lot.
"He has many of the same qualities as Achouri and Daramy with his speed and in the one-on-one situations, and he is also game-smart and can be part of the combinations."