valencia held at home by københavn published: friday 7 november 2008, 0.50cet valencia cf 1-1 fc københavn københavn's brazilian forward cesar santin struck a late equaliser to deny the spanish side a winning start to their group g campaign at mestalla.
fc københavn struck a late equaliser to deny valencia cf a winning start to their uefa cup group g campaign.
santin strikes the spanish club had seemed set to take three points after a 61st-minute tap-in by fernando morientes, but were pegged back by cesar santin's equaliser five minutes from the end. valencia came into the match stung by a first home league defeat of the season, at the hands of real racing club at the weekend, and looked a team with something to prove in the early stages.
key saves only good goalkeeping and bad luck prevented valencia from storming into a commanding lead, with edu and vicente rodríguez being denied by fine saves from jesper christiansen before edu headed against the crossbar in a hectic opening. the visitors from denmark survived and had a great chance themselves in the 27th minute when ailton almeida broke clear but could only stab the ball over as keeper renan brito soares came out to meet him.
morientes pounces københavn made a better start to the second half and when santin managed to get behind the hosts' defence, the valencia keeper had to be alert to the danger, racing out to block the brazilian's effort. valencia finally broke the deadlock thanks to the predatory instincts of morientes. edu latched on to a cross from the left and while his shot was parried by christiansen, morientes – a three-time uefa champions league winner with real madrid cf – was on hand to slot home from three metres.
first point that appeared likely to be the decisive goal, yet københavn had other ideas and santin's late strike from mikael antonsson's headed pass denied the 2004 uefa cup winners and earned ståle solbakken's side their first point after losing at home to as saint-etienne on matchday 1.
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