Brøndby complete Junker deal

Following their exit from this season's UEFA Cup at the hands of Parma AC, Brøndby IF have signed Danish under-21 international Mad's Junker on a four-year contract from Lyngby FC.

Another departure
Junker is the second player to leave Lyngby after Kim Christensen left Poul Hansen’s side to sign for Hamburger SV on Wednesday, following the news that Lyngby have gone bankrupt and will be forced to play the rest of the season with amateur players.

Supporter turns player
Junker, a life-long Brøndby fan, does not expect to claim a regular spot in the side straight away. "Peter Madsen and Ruben Bagger are the first choices and my immediate ambition is to back these two up," he said. "That also means that I would be included in the starting line-up if one of them is sold and frankly I think that Brøndby will find it difficult to hang on to both of them."

Grateful gesture
In spite of the change, Junker is determined to do everything in his power to help Lyngby survive. The charismatic striker has decided to donate his salary and bonuses for November and December to the rest of the squad. "It’s only fair," added Junker. "The club has helped me a lot. Now it’s time that I show my appreciation."

Hareide frustrated
Meanwhile, Brøndby coach Aage Hareide blamed an overloaded fixture list for his high-flying side's UEFA Cup capitulation against Parma.

Home defeat
The Superligaen outfit had set themselves up perfectly for last night's home leg with an impressive 1-1 draw in Italy two weeks ago. But a 3-0 home defeat after goals by Patrick Mboma, Hidetoshi Nakata and Sabri Lamouchi saw the runaway Danish league leaders dumped out 4-1 on aggregate.

'Making mistakes'
"We look more tired than we have done for a long time and that is why were making lots of mistakes, which you just cannot do at this level," Hareide said. "But it was also our 26th game in four and a half months and when Parma scored just before the break we let our heads drop."

Important fixture
After an unexpected league defeat at home to Silkeborg IF and last night's humbling, Hareide wants his players to put all negative thoughts aside for Sunday's visit of arch-rivals FC København . "We're going to have to brainwash the players, just empty their heads of everything that's happened," he added.

'Better opposition'
Brøndby goalkeeper Mogens Krogh, who endured a torrid night, believed the difference in class had finally shown. "It was a bit of a sad way to end our European campaign. After they went 2-0 up it was pretty embarrassing," he said. "We have to admit that we were up against much better opposition and we certainly didn't deserve to go through."