The Champions League match between Manchester United and FC Copenhagen on Tuesday evening is extra special for several players from both teams. Rasmus Højlund will encounter his two younger brothers on the Danish opposing team, while Christian Eriksen will meet his childhood friend Rasmus Falk.
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Whether Eriksen will start in the lineup during Tuesday night's home game against the club from his homeland remains to be seen. However, there seems to be no doubt that manager Erik ten Hag will give the former Ajax player some playing time. In that case, the 31-year-old midfielder will encounter Falk, a good friend. The two Danish internationals were born a month apart in Middelfart and were both part of the youth academy at Odense BK before Eriksen left for Ajax at a young age in 2009.
While Eriksen made his way to the Premier League, Falk has been playing for Copenhagen since 2016. There is a good chance that the 31-year-old veteran will be in the starting lineup at Old Trafford on Tuesday night, meeting his good friend after all these years on the pitch. "I'm really looking forward to it. We've lived far away from each other in recent years, but we've always stayed in touch," Falk said at the press conference. "We don't talk every day, but we spoke to each other this morning via Skype."
Falk does not have a special plan to stop Eriksen, and he will not try to throw his good friend off his game. "No, in Funen (the island where the two friends were born, ed.) we don’t do trash talk, but I’m a Copenhagener now, so that makes it different," Falk laughs. "But I don’t think you’ll hear after the game that I’ve completely messed with Chrille’s head with trash talk. Of course, I know what kind of footballer he is and what his strengths and weaknesses are. We know who we are up against."
Højlund
This is certainly also true for the Højlund brothers. The twenty-year-old striker from United will meet his two younger brothers, twins Emil and Oscar, at Copenhagen. The chance that they will encounter each other on the pitch is somewhat smaller, as the two eighteen-year-old talents are not yet regular starters for the champions of Denmark. Emil, a striker, has only made one substitute appearance in a league match this season. Oscar, a midfielder, has participated eight times, but has recently been on the bench more often.
Should the three brothers be on the field at the same time, it would set a Champions League record. If it doesn't happen tonight, perhaps it will in the future. Because the Højlund twins are also talented. That's what Christian Mouroux, the technical director of their youth club Hørsholm Usserød, tells Manchester Evening News. "People who know all three of them find his two younger brothers at least as talented. In terms of pure talent, they have a slight edge, but Rasmus is incredibly dedicated."
Updated: 10:46, 24 Oct 2023
