Brøndby’s Christian Cappis scored the lone goal in a losing effort while José Gallegos notched a pair of assists in a win for promotion-hunting SønderjyskE.
FC Copenhagen 4 – 1 Brøndby IF
Christian Cappis was the lone bright spot for Brøndby on Sunday evening, temporarily putting the team on even terms against city rivals Copenhagen before they collapsed in a heavy-handed loss.
Cappis played the full game in the team’s central midfield, making 60 total touches and completing 75% of his 40 pass attempts, while setting up a pair of chances for teammates.
Rasmus Falk put the hosts ahead after 13 minutes, pouncing on a poorly-cleared corner from the edge of the area and striking his low shot past the helpless keeper inside the right upright.
Cappis gave the visitors hope six minutes later, playing a quick one-two with Marko Divkovic in the right flank before firing a 23-yard blast under the grasp of the unsuspecting Copenhagen keeper for the equalizer.
However, the hosts took control after the half-hour, with Spanish import Pep Biel netting a hat-trick in just over a half-hour of clock-time to put the game away.
His first came three minutes past the half-hour with a low shot from the right side of the area that took a deflection off the keepers fingertips on its way to the far corner. His second came just before the half when he lunged in to redirect Denis Vavro’s cross into the net.
His final goal came in the 64th minute, cleaning up from short range after Mohamed Daramy’s shot was left sitting just in front of goal following a block by Brøndby keeper Mads Hermansen.
Cappis and his Brøndby teammates are already looking past this setback, as they must pay a visit to Swiss team Basel on Thursday, looking to protect their narrow 1-0 lead in their Europa Conference League third-round series.
They return to league action on Sunday with a home game against Odense BK.
SønderjyskE 3 – 1 HB Køge
José Gallegos set up two of SønderjyskE’s goals on Saturday as they easily beat HB Køge in First Division action.
The hosts struck early, with Gallegos stealing the ball off of a defender’s foot inside of the penalty area, and deflecting it to Peter Christiansen for a cool finish from 18 yards to the lower right corner for the sixth-minute lead.
He pounced upon another mistake by the Køge defense 19 minutes later, one-timing a short lay-off in the penalty area to the middle, where Emil Berggreen could poke it over the line for the 2-0 advantage.
Emil Frederiksen put the game on ice with three minutes remaining when he finished a counter-attack into the open net, making Joachim Rothmann’s consolation goal in the 92nd minute a moot point.
Gallegos and his teammates are currently second in the Danish second-tier, and will next face Hobro IK in their race back to the top flight.
Notes
Emmanuel Sabbi is still recovering from injury and did not suit up for the 2-1 home loss by Odense against visiting Aarhus.
