No love lost between clubs separated by a bridge who will tussle for Scandinavian pride and to advance in Europe
E
very day, tens of thousands of people are thought to commute across the 8km bridge between Malmö and Copenhagen. The name of the bridge – Öresund if you’re Swedish or Øresund if you’re Danish – is one of only a few things that divide the people of the two cities. Another one is football.
After Malmö beat Latvia’s RFS in a Champions League qualifier last week their winger Jens Stryger Larsen, who has more than 50 Denmark caps, led the club’s supporters in a vociferous chorus of “We hate Copenhagen” – the identity of their third-round opponents no secret, the draw already made.
Stryger Larsen came through the ranks at Brøndby – FC Copenhagen’s fierce rivals – and is one of a couple of Danish players in the Malmö squad. His chanting was criticised by Danish police, who said it was “helping to stir up a hostile atmosphere” before the two-leg tie gets under way in Sweden on Tuesday.
