FC Copenhagen’s march towards gold met the first serious obstacle in Aalborg, and the Lions ended up proving that they are already in the process of mastering.
AaB’s brave challenge of the gold favorites was already losing air when Jess Thorup started driving the substitutes on the field.
First Paul Mukairo to challenge the tired North Jutland legs. And then in the second half just Victor Claesson directly from Sweden’s failed World Cup hunt.
AaB’s countermeasure …? Kasper Høgh and the Ross brothers.
It was figuratively a bit like watching a full-bodied lion patiently and lazily circle around a sick gazzelle.
Should AaB succeed in pulling one point down in the dressing room, then they needed all the margins.
And they did not get them. Jacob Rinne got most of Lukas Lerager’s torso feeling, when he had to dispatch a mischievous balloon ball ten minutes before time alone.
The AaB goalkeeper’s arm did not reach for more than sending the ball directly into the forehead of Victor Claesson – and then FCK showed championship Claesson and snatched another late victory on a difficult away field.
Free kick to Rinne …? The home crowd certainly thought so, but Judge Michael Tykgaard stuck to his assessment of a fair duel – and video review did not change that.
AaB proved throughout most of the match why Ekstra Bladet’s football expert, Stig Tøfting, considers AaB to be the best bid for the bronze.
It is difficult to understand that the AaB team that defied the Lions on Sunday night was the same as a month ago when they first threw points to Vejle on their own turf.
The difference lies in the incomparable will to win that the newly appointed head coach Lars Friis has injected the club with.
Throughout the first hour, the North Jutlanders fully showed that the convincing victory over Brøndby on the last day of the basic game was no coincidence.
But FC Copenhagen quietly got the sting out of the playful Louka Prip and Malthe Højholt ran out of fuel.
Under Martí Cifuentes, AaB had probably settled for one point, but the Friis version of AaB goes after the victory.
And then the cracks began to appear at the same time as Rasmus Falk freed himself from the defensive tasks.
It is an abuse of a good player to use Rasmus Falk to patrol in front of the back line, but as AaB died of forces, Falk was able to list forward and stage the final sprint.
It gave a late victory and the gold price seems rock solid.