Danish teams scrape through in Europe

FC Copenhagen and FC Nordsjælland both struggled to overcome weaker opponents

It wasn’t pretty, but FC Copenhagen and FC Nordsjælland both managed to progress to the Europa League second qualification round yesterday evening.

The Lions struggled mightily at home in Telia Parken stadium against Finnish outfit KuPS, but eventually made it through thanks to a late Denis Vavro penalty that gave them a 2-1 aggregate win.

The Tigers meanwhile needed two second half strikes to overcome Northern Irish semi-pro team Cliftonville 3-1 on aggregate.

READ MORE: 2018 WC: Denmark left to rue what could have been the luckiest draw of them all

Nordic battles
FCK will face Icelandic team Stjarnan next week in the second round of play, while FCN has a tougher task against current Swedish league leaders AIK.

FC Midtjylland will take on Astana of Kazakhstan in the Champions League qualification, while Brøndby will be in the hat when UEFA draws the third qualification round for the Europa League on Monday.

In related news, Brøndby has sold midfielder Christian Nørgaard to Serie A giants Fiorentina for around 26 million kroner.

The 24-year-old, who joined BIF from Hamburg five years ago, signed a contract that will keep him in Fiorentina until 2022.