Chapter 505 - 111 — Copenhagen Away (III)

Ten Hag didn’t waste a second of halftime arguing about the red card.

FC Copenhagen 2 — 2 Manchester United. United had been two goals up and completely in control before Rashford’s dismissal. That was gone. Forty-five minutes remained, and United would play every one of them with ten men.

He reorganized the board fast — 4-4-1 without the ball, Garnacho dropping to the left, Bruno working the right but tucking narrow the instant Copenhagen entered central areas, Højlund alone up front, Demien beside McTominay.

"Your job’s changed from the first half," Ten Hag told him directly. "You’re still our safest way through their press. But you cannot chase every loose ball just because your legs let you. If you leave the center every time they overload a flank, eventually there’s an uncontested man behind you, and we don’t have the numbers to cover for it."

"Understood."

"When we win it back — don’t just clear it. Find him." Ten Hag pointed at Demien without looking away from the group. "Let him take the first pressure. If they’re exposed, release Rasmus or Alejandro quick. If they’re not, use the ball to push them back and buy us time outside our own half."

「HALFTIME MISSION UPDATE」 「Line-Breaking Actions: 7/8」 「Clear Chances Created: 2/3」 「Defensive Recoveries: 3/4」 「Pass Accuracy: 94%」 「TEAM OBJECTIVE: Manchester United Win」

Nearly every individual box was ticked.

None of it made the score 3-2.

Parken had transformed completely by the time United walked back out. Two goals up, it had been half-empty in spirit even while full in noise. Now every United touch drew a whistle, every Copenhagen recovery a roar, the whole stadium leaning forward with the sense that a comeback was actually there for the taking.

Communication got harder immediately — players pointing more than shouting, gestures doing the work voices couldn’t cut through anymore.

Copenhagen didn’t throw everyone forward to start the half. They tested United’s new shape instead, circulating between their center-backs and Falk, hunting for whichever midfielder could be dragged out of position first.

Demien refused the bait.

When Falk dropped deep to receive, Demien didn’t follow him all the way into Copenhagen’s own half — he held the central lane and let Højlund apply the first bit of pressure instead. The extra man only mattered if United started abandoning their shape to compensate for it.

The ball went wide. Garnacho closed his side. Copenhagen recycled. Bruno shifted across. Copenhagen recycled again.

The first attack ended in a deep cross rather than anything central, Maguire heading it clear — except the clearance didn’t reach Højlund, and Copenhagen recovered it instantly.

Even correct defending left Copenhagen with another body for the second phase. That was the whole shape of the next forty-five minutes in one sequence.

The next delivery went the other way. Wan-Bissaka won it. The loose ball dropped toward Demien, two Copenhagen shirts converging on him at once.

「TRAIT ACTIVATED」 「Press Resistant」

He cushioned it away from the first challenge, absorbed the second, and turned into open grass.

Højlund was already breaking behind the center-backs. Garnacho was also moving down the left. Demien chose Højlund — the central route was the faster escape.

The pass reached him clean. Højlund held off Diks initially, but Vavro arrived as the spare man before Garnacho or Bruno could get close enough to support.

Copenhagen won it back.

Demien had beaten two players and made the right pass. Being a man down simply meant fewer bodies arrived to finish what he’d started. He recovered toward midfield immediately rather than standing to watch the attack die.

United could escape. They couldn’t yet sustain what came after.

By the fifty-first minute, Copenhagen had clearly worked out that attacking Demien directly was wasting their numerical edge. They started trying to move him instead.

Falk dropped left. Lerager ran beyond him on the far side. Jelert pushed higher. Elyounoussi tucked inside.

Left. Back. Right. Demien covered the central lane on the first switch, closed Lerager when he drifted inside, then had to recover all over again when Copenhagen recycled toward Jelert.

His stamina and pace kept him arriving everywhere he needed to be. McTominay, covering just as hard, was starting to look reactive rather than proactive — Copenhagen simply kept manufacturing one more option than United had bodies to close.

Jelert eventually received outside Garnacho with real time on the ball. Demien couldn’t leave Falk centrally without handing Copenhagen a straight lane into the box, so he stayed put.

Jelert crossed.

Varane won the first header, sending it out to the edge of the area. Lerager arrived for the second ball. Demien had already moved, getting across before Lerager could strike it clean and forcing him sideways instead.

「MATCH MISSION PROGRESS」 「Defensive Recoveries: 4/4 — COMPLETE」

Copenhagen kept the ball anyway. The next cross came in, and this time Onana caught it cleanly.

United finally got thirty seconds to breathe.

By the fifty-sixth minute, Demien decided the tempo needed to change deliberately — United couldn’t survive another thirty-five minutes if every possession turned straight into a Copenhagen attack.

Onana rolled it to Maguire. Maguire found Demien. Copenhagen braced for the counter.

Demien turned away from goal instead.

「LEGENDARY SKILL ACTIVATED」 「Toni Kroos — Metronome」

Varane. Back to him. Wan-Bissaka. Back to him again. Copenhagen’s front line started chasing shadows, the home crowd whistling now not out of anger but impatience — United weren’t attacking, but they weren’t giving anything back either.

He kept moving it until Falk finally jumped too far out of position.

One sharp pass split him wide open, straight into Bruno.

「MATCH MISSION PROGRESS」 「Line-Breaking Actions: 8/8 — COMPLETE」

Bruno turned. Garnacho accelerated behind Jelert. Bruno found him, and Garnacho drove forty yards into Copenhagen’s half, forcing three home shirts to retreat at once.

Højlund attacked the box. Demien followed as far as the edge of it and stopped there — somebody still needed to be positioned if the attack broke down and Copenhagen countered.

Garnacho tried to find Højlund. Diks got a boot to it. Corner, nothing from it directly, but United had forced Copenhagen back for over a minute and bought real relief without simply hoofing the ball away.

A few minutes later, they escaped again — Demien receiving from Varane, Falk pressing one side, Lerager closing the other. He turned through the first challenge and drove into the gap; the center-back refused to step up with Højlund still threatening in behind, giving Demien room outside shooting range.

He carried it. Bruno moved inside. Garnacho held width. Demien waited until the defender finally committed, then released Garnacho, who entered the box and shot across Grabara.

Grabara saved it.

「MATCH MISSION PROGRESS」 「Clear Chances Created: 3/3 — COMPLETE」

Every individual box was finished now.

The team objective was still wide open.

Copenhagen answered with fresh legs. In the sixty-third minute, Roony Bardghji replaced Mohamed Elyounoussi.

The difference showed up almost immediately — sharper first touches, comfort receiving close to United’s own defensive line, no hesitation about attacking straight away.

His first involvement came down United’s right, receiving between Dalot and Varane. Demien had already shifted across, Falk drifting into the same half-space.

Bardghji tried driving inside. Demien cut the lane off. Rather than force the duel, Bardghji laid it backward and immediately moved again, the ball returning to him in a slightly different pocket that forced Dalot to step this time.

That left another runner free outside.

The attack ended in a cleared delivery, but the sequence made the point clearly enough — Bardghji didn’t need to beat Demien one-on-one. His movement alone created another decision for a defense that was already stretched thin.

On the next Copenhagen possession, Bardghji shot from distance after United shut off the central route. Onana dealt with it without much trouble.

United punished the overcommitment in the sixty-sixth minute.

Copenhagen pushed high again. Varane won the first header, McTominay contested the second, and it broke loose toward Demien.

Falk arrived behind him as he took possession. Press Resistant kept him upright, but he didn’t sprint forward immediately — Garnacho was still jogging back from the last defensive phase, not ready to receive.

Demien shielded it for one more second.

That second mattered. Garnacho crossed halfway. Bruno moved centrally. Højlund dragged the right center-back away.

Demien turned. Falk was already behind the play. He released Bruno, who found Garnacho, and suddenly United had numbers running at Copenhagen’s goal instead of away from their own.

Garnacho’s run forced a hurried retreat. The first ball into the box was dealt with, but United kept the phase alive, Maguire staying forward for the recycled delivery.

The ball entered the box and struck Lukas Lerager’s arm.

Play continued for a moment before the referee stopped it.

VAR.

Parken went deafening while the review ran. Demien stayed outside the crowd forming around the referee — nothing useful to add there.

Penalty confirmed.

Bruno took the ball without a word needing to be exchanged about who would. Demien stood near the edge of the box with McTominay, ready for a rebound or a quick Copenhagen transition either way.

Bruno waited through the whistles, ran up, and scored.

FC COPENHAGEN 2 — 3 MANCHESTER UNITEDBruno Fernandes 69’ (pen.)

Ten men. A two-goal lead already destroyed once. A stadium that hated them right now. And United were somehow ahead again.

Højlund reached Bruno first. Garnacho followed. Demien joined the pile for a moment, but he was already one of the first to start pulling everyone back toward their own half — twenty minutes plus stoppage time still remained, and none of it would win itself.

Copenhagen didn’t waste time reacting. Two substitutions around the seventieth minute brought on Christian Sørensen and Orri Óskarsson for Ankersen and Gonçalves — fresh legs, fresh attacking intent, no sign of a team accepting the deficit.

United’s job shifted again.

Ten Hag didn’t want them parking everyone in the box immediately — twenty minutes of uninterrupted Copenhagen possession would eventually produce something regardless. Whenever United won it back, Demien’s instruction was simple: make the possession worth something. Carry if the space was there. Counter if the counter existed. If neither did, protect the ball and draw the contact.

In the seventy-second minute, Demien received near the touchline after a Maguire clearance, Lerager closing aggressively. He shielded it with his body and turned toward the sideline rather than try to beat him centrally.

Lerager clipped him.

Free kick.

Demien didn’t make a show of the contact — he simply left the ball where the foul happened while United’s back four walked twenty yards up the pitch and Højlund advanced into Copenhagen’s half.

The free kick eventually reached Højlund, who won the first contact. Bruno collected the second ball and found McTominay at the edge of the area.

McTominay’s shot went over.

United had eaten up nearly a minute forcing Copenhagen to restart from their own goal.

That mattered as much as anything on the scoreboard.