Denmark survive tricky Norway test to win final Euro warm-up
All eyes in Brondby and beyond were set on Christian Eriksen, who scored a late stunner in midweek to complete a comeback victory over Sweden, but it was Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s early goal that unsettled the Swedes first.
And not before long, Norway succumbed to another poacher’s finish from the Tottenham midfielder, as he let fly from inside the area into the bottom corner to give Denmark the lead.
The hosts have now opened the scoring 10 times in 14 matches, and their lead was soon doubled.
After Leo Ostigard marginally headed off target at the other end, Kasper Hjulmand’s side netted a second as Jannik Vestergaard fired an opportunistic header into the roof of the net from Andreas Skov Olsen’s pinpoint cross.
Visiting manager Stale Solbakken was left longing for more from his star-studded attackers before the break, and immediately they appeared more dangerous after the break as Martin Odegaard almost halved the hosts’ lead, forcing Kasper Schmeichel into a fine save.
Erling Haaland then did manage to find the back of the net, only for his strike to be ruled out for offside after a VAR review.
The Manchester City marksman, however, upped the ante shortly after, picking up Odegaard’s pass and finishing with a clean strike from a one-on-one situation to reduce the arrears and rally his troops for a comeback in the final quarter-hour.
However, the Danes saw off the fightback and restored their two-goal advantage in stoppage time via Youssef Poulsen’s tap-in following a defensive mishap, ultimately seeing out a win that took their unbeaten head-to-head run to six matches.
They will head to Germany on a high after securing a third successive victory this year, while Norway remain without a victory against their Scandinavian counterparts since a 1-0 friendly win back in March 2002.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jannik Vestergaard (Denmark)
