FC Copenhagen 4-0 Brondby: Brazilian Hotshot Ailton Delivers His Promise

The Danish championship finally tilted in Copenhagen's favour after they crippled and played their neighbours and arch-rivals Brondby off the park.

Brazilian hotshot Ailton Almeida, who made good on his promise, struck twice while surprise inclusion Gronjaer and Oscar Wendt completed a highly impressive 4-0 victory.

When Copenhagen coach Solbakken, puts an end to his managerial career, he could quite easily make a promising career at the poker table.

He called the bluff of the season, when he announced star player Gronjaer was unavailable and had to manage without him.

The media, the press and the opposition manager all picked up on this and everybody were predicting a Brondby win and Brondby coach Nielsen was qouted as saying he was "extremely confident."

Little did they know, Gronkjaer lined up in the starting eleven and with barely five minutes played, the former Chelsea winger gave his side the lead.

Albeit a defensive error, Copenhagen's "other" Brazilian hotshot Cesar Santin capitalised, dribbled past the whole the defence before serving it on plate for Gronjaer, who could hardly miss.

Brondby were rattled and didn't know what hit them. They were struggling to get out of their own half and Copenhagen were rampant.

Chances went begging for Cesar, Ailton & Kvist, before Ailton gave Copenhagen a fully deserved 2-0 lead just before half time, when he got on the end of a sweeping move, with Gronkjaer at the heart of it.

The start of the second half saw a rejuvenated Brondby cause problems for the first time in the match. However, Jan Kristiansen's shot which cannoned off the bar, was as close as they would come to finding the net.

Instead Copenhagen further increased their lead when Ailton scored his second and Copenhagen's third with 20 minutes to go, to put the match beyond doubt. He took advantage of some hilariously crazy defending by Brondby.

The rout was completed when substitute Wendt finished off an impressive night of football, with a superbly taken goal from outside the box.

The match ended with the masses of Copenhagen fans making themselves heard. "Vi er nummer et" (We are number one) and "F** tilbage til jeres slummer kvater" (F*** off back to your East side slums) were the chants.

Ailton was understandably pleased with his side's (and in particular his own) performance, after the sweeping statements he made prior to he match. His rather arrogant statements raised a few eyebrows, mainly from the opposition.

If anyone had any doubts though, Ailton silenced them with two well taken goals and a magnificent overall performance.

"People can say what they want. People can think what they want but I was totally confident that we would deliver a powerful performance tonight," Ailton said.

"Now we are where we belong (at the top) and the title is ours to lose. This is the position we wanted to be in and now we're here" he continued.

Meanwhile Gronjaer, felt the margin could have been much bigger of it weren't for wasteful finishing.

"It was a total joy. We played really well and you could tell the lads were enjoying themselves. We got off to a bright start and in the end we wasted too many opportunities" Gronkjaer said.

Brondby manager Kent Nielsen, was understandably unhappy and blamed individual errors for their humiliating loss.

"This is the worst I've experienced as Brondby manager" Nielsen said.

"We talked about focusing and keeping the errors as minimal as possible but it all went out of the window. Inside five minutes, they score a goal due to a defensive error. There is only so much you can do from the bench and it was up to the players to perform and they didn't."

"Obviously the two injuries in the first half didn't help much but we came out fighting in the second half only to see them go 3-0 up. It was terrible to watch" he continued.

He then went on to do something a manager should never do. Admit defeat in the race while still two matches remaining. 

"I wholeheartedly believe its gone", he said.

"It has slipped out of our hands and into their hands and with just two games remaining, I don't think we can do it"

Unlike Liverpool's Rafa Benitez though, Nielsen didn't forget to congratulate his rival manager on his excellent result and the little trick he pulled regarding Gronjaer.

"They played well and were clearly better than us on the day. He did a great job fooling everybody into believing Gronjaer was out. I could learn from him", he continued.

The victory now means Copenhagen are the new league leaders, two points clear of Brondby with just two games remaining.

It is certainly theirs to lose.

See the goals here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRj98afHV_s&feature=related