Bagger wins it for Brøndby

Brøndby IF 1-0 KS Dinamo Tirana
A last-gasp goal from Ruben Bagger broke KS Dinamo Tirana hearts and gave Brøndby IF the iniatitive in this second qualifying round tie.

Ready to celebrate
Just as Dinamo seemed ready to hail one of the finest performances in their history, the Danish champions found the net to claim victory in the first leg ahead of next week's return in Albania.

Complete control
After a tentative opening, Brøndby took complete control and the only surprise early on was that they failed to find the net in the first half. With a partisan crowd inside the Brøndby stadium willing them on, midfield player Morten Wieghorst was pulling the strings.

Jonson denied
Dinamo had the first chance of the match after just four minutes, but defender Arjan Pisha sent his free-kick narrowly over the Brøndby crossbar. The hosts then took control of the match and were unlucky not to take the lead when striker Mattias Jonson headed Thomas Lindrup's pinpoint cross straight at the Dinamo goalkeeper.

Packed rearguard
Peter Madsen sent a long-range effort just wide of the post seven minutes later and, with the visitors seemingly content to leave Ligor Tiko and Ilir Qorri isolated in attack, Brøndby struggled to break through Tirana's packed rearguard. Nevertheless, Jonson almost opened the scoring for a second time on the half-hour mark but cushioned another close-range header over the Dinamo bar.

Chances spurned
Brøndby started where they left off in the second half putting pressure on the visitors but despite their dominance and the majority of posssession they found it hard to engineer any clear-cut opportunties. When they finally did manage to create an opening in the 53rd minute, Jonson wasted his third free header. There was also a chance for Kim Daugaard in the 71st minute, but he blasted his close-range volley over the bar.

Firm favourites
Dinamo seemed on course for a famous draw but they were to be denied by that late strike. With seconds remaining, a loose ball was picked up by Mads Jørgensen. He immediately swung the ball into the box where Bagger stormed in to send the 13,000 home fans wild. The goal means that Brøndby will now be firm favourites to progress to a third qualifying round tie with Norwegian champions Rosenborg BK.

'Football is cruel'
Faruk Sejdini, the Dinamo coach, was downbeat after the result. "This is how cruel football can be," he said. "Even though we were only occasionally able to break into Brøndby's half, our defence showed remarkable resilience throughout the match but when you come under pressure like this, you have to be lucky in the end and my players thought the match was finished.

'Extremely proud'
"I am extremly proud of my players and their performance today, despite the result," he added. He was also quick to point out that in the last round against FBK Kaunas, Dinamo battled back from a two-goal deficit to win 3-2.