Danish delight for Levski

PFC Levski Sofia made comfortable progress to the second round of the UEFA Cup as a 1-1 draw at Brøndby IF completed a 5-2 aggregate win.

Disastrous start
With a 4-1 deficit from the first match in Sofia, the Danish side took the game to Levski straight from kick-off, but the hosts had hardly managed to create any clear-cut chances before they were a goal behind.

Goalscoring goalkeeper
With only nine minutes on the clock, Allan Olsen brought Levski's Sasa Simonovic down inside the home side's penalty area, and goalkeeper Dimitar Ivankov stepped up to put the ball past his opposite number Mogens Krogh and put the Bulgarian side a step closer to the next round.

Well-marshalled defence
Michael Laudrup’s side never quite regained their composure after that early blow, and were mostly reduced to long-range efforts as the well marshalled Levski rearguard prevented Brøndby from getting close to Ivankov's goal.

Counterattacking threat
Indeed, the visitors looked much more lively on their few counterattacks and could even have doubled their lead when Georgi Chillikov and Stanislav Angelov combined brilliantly to set up the on-rushing Garba Lawal who missed the target from close range.

Danish passion
Brøndby certainly could not be blamed for their lack of determination as they came out for the second half desperate to fight, but a lack of cohesion in midfield stopped them from posing the Levski defence to many problems.

Jonson on target
Levski seemed content to sit back and defend deep against the increasingly frustrated Danish side who had a brief moment of joy when Matias Jonson dived well to head a Mads Jørgensen cross past Ivankov with twenty minutes left to play.

Second round ticket
Shortly after Mads Junker had the chance to throw the Danish hosts into the lead on the night but his close-range header went wide off the target to give Levski a ticket for the next round.