The signs were obvious from the opening minutes, it would be a long difficult night at the MCH Arena for FC Midtjylland in the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round match against AEK Larnaca.
First it was Raphael Onyedika who got booked in the 19th minute, before the end of the game the team had accumulated three cautions and Serbian Referee Novak Simovic had not qualms about it.
The bigger misery for the host was losing midfielder Evander to an injury just before the interval – in only the second game of the campaign – and the extent of the injury has not been determined.
After one forced substitution Bo Henriksen would eventually use up his remaining four allotted substitutes and still not get goal.
Instead the visitors opened scoring late on, Hungarian midfielder Ádám Gyurcsó found the back of the net with a shot from the edge of the box.
That goal was the jolt FCM needed and three minutes later they leveled through Erik Sviatchenko’s header from a corner kick.
On the night, Onyedika – last season’s best Young player in Denmark – was on for the entire duration of the game, while young goalkeeper Mark Ugboh was named on the bench.
Tuesday’s result was their consecutive draw, a follow up from Friday’s home draw against Randers in the Superliga.
In a week’s time, the sides will be in action again, but this time at the AEK Arena, for the second leg of the Champions League second qualifying round.
