Thorup: Perfect friendly game to give me answers

F.C. Copenhagen head coach Jess Thorup was pleased with the Lions' display in their 1-0 loss to SK Rapid Wien on Saturday despite the result.

Thorup was able to field a relatively strong XI in Austria and handed official debuts to Kamil Grabara, David Khocholava and Kevin Diks.

"They were the best opponent we could get at the moment," Thorup said in his evaluation of the encounter.

"Rapid had more chances and deservedly won, but I'm more focused on and content with our performance. It showed that we still have something to work with and I think that it was valuable for all of us.

"I'm therefore happy that we met a Rapid team that, as expected, came at us with a high tempo, which tested us across the pitch. We needed that, and that way I got some answers that I didn't get in our other training games.

"Of course there are a lot of circumstances (to consider), such as the fact we've trained a lot and hard (in our camp) and that we lack players. But I would much rather have a match like this, than another match like the one on Monday against CSKA. It was valuable in another way, but the course of the battle today gives us some completely different experiences, which we'll dive into when we get home and watch it back in more detail."

Next up for FCK is the first 3F Superliga game of the new season against AaB in Parken Stadium on Sunday 18 July.

And Thorup hopes to see further improvements within his squad before kick-off in Copenhagen.

"There are still eight days until the start of the season, so we still have time to work on the training ground," he said.

"The coming week will reveal who is available (to us) when we enter the field against AaB in Parken."