Be on your Gaard
BEES STAR: I’M HUNGRY FOR MORE AFTER BATTLING ENGLAND
CHRISTIAN NORGAARD has already shown Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Declan Rice and Co what he is capable of.
The 27-year-old picked up Denmark’s man-of-the-match award on his full debut in a 0-0 draw against England in last September’s Nations League clash in Copenhagen.
Now Norgaard hopes to be the best Dane over two legs of the play-off semi-finals as his Brentford side take on compatriot Philip Billing’s Bournemouth.
And if he then gets the chance to put in a dazzling display at Wembley, Norgaard and his Bees pals have a real opportunity to get to take on Kane & Co regularly next season.
Norgaard said: “The game against England was definitely one of the proudest moments of my career.
“You’re playing against some top players, hopefully some of the players I will face next season.
“And to see that I could be not only just playing among them, but also putting in a good shift against them, that was really nice on a personal level, especially on my full international debut.
“It has definitely given me the appetite to be doing it on a regular basis.
“We all want to compete at the highest possible level and now we have a good chance to be there next year for that, although we know there’s a lot of work before that can happen.” Midfielder Norgaard has won four caps for
Denmark compared to Billings’ one and the pair are both hoping for more at the Euros next month.
Norgaard added: “I played Philip last season for the first time and he’s a really skilful player.
“He is a tall player, he’s very good on the ball, which makes it really tricky.
“But hopefully we will win these two games against them and hopefully I will see him in the Euros squad, and we can talk about it in the summer.”
With several other Brentford players and manager Thomas Frank also hailing from Denmark, as well as members of Frank’s management staff, there is very much a Danish flavour about this play-off semi-final.
And Norgaard knows there will be plenty of
football fans tuning in for the games back home and willing their boys on.
Norgaard added:
“They would be really proud.
“Not only for Thomas, but they call Brentford a
‘Danish club’ in Denmark, so it would be massive there if we were to go up.
“But Brentford is already spoken about a lot in Denmark because of our performances, even reaching the play-offs two years in a row and being in the mix for automatic promotion. That’s a fantastic achievement.
“There are so many teams with bigger budgets and bigger clubs that are in a position where they haven’t had anything to play for in the last few games.
“We should be really proud and happy. But we all want the icing on the cake by going up.”