N'Doye stands tall for København

FC København secured a trouble-free path to the UEFA Europa League round of 32, beating AC Sparta Praha 3-0 in the Czech capital to progress as Group K runners-up.

Winner-takes-all
Level on seven points at the start of play, the visitors knew their 1-0 victory over Jozef Chovanec's side on Matchday 2 meant a point was sufficient. A win, however, looked the only outcome throughout. Dame N'Doye struck twice inside 30 minutes and Jesper Grønkjær added a second-half penalty to do the damage, with Sparta's day taking a further turn for the worse with the dismissal of Manuel Pamić before the hour.

N'Doye headers
For all their attacking impotence, it was Sparta's defensive frailty that proved their undoing. N'Doye twice capitalised, Martin Vingaard the man to unpick the lock on both occasions. He did so first via an uncomplicated free-kick on 22 minutes, N'Doye towering above a static back line to head home. Vingaard's second assist, a low and deliberate cross from the left, proved too subtle for Niklas Hoheneder, who lost N'Doye, allowing the Senegalese striker to swoop and head across Jaromír Blažek.

Hoheneder errors
Not until two minutes after half-time was Blažek's counterpart, Johan Wiland, afforded a chance to warm his palms on a snowy evening in Prague, the København goalkeeper comfortably catching Juraj Kucka's header. The match soon reverted to type, however, Hoheneder's miserable match compounded when he was adjudged to have clumsily chopped down N'Doye inside the penalty area. Grønkjær converted from the spot with the minimum of fuss to hand Ståle Solbakken's side game, set and match with only 54 minutes on the clock.

Pamić dismissal
N'Doye was subsequently three times denied a hat-trick by Blažek and Ailton Almeida was frustrated by the crossbar after Sparta had seen a wholly unsatisfactory evening go from bad to worse when Pamić was shown a second yellow card having felled Grønkjær. The contest, though, had long been over.