Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg targets Denmark World Cup play-offs and OM Champions League push | OneFootball

Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg enters a defining run-in, chasing a World Cup berth with Denmark and a Champions League place with OM.

L'Équipe reports that Denmark must beat North Macedonia on Thursday at 20:45, then face Czech Republic or Ireland on Tuesday for a spot at the next World Cup.

Based at the Marienlyst hotel in Helsingor, the captain has found rare calm after turbulent months in Marseille.

Their qualifying campaign unravelled late. Near-certainties with two games left, the Danes drew 2-2 at home to Belarus, then fell 2-4 in Scotland after conceding twice in stoppage time, a collapse evoking France in 1993.

The expanded 48-team format offers a play-off lifeline. Höjbjerg took the armband after Euro 2024, following Simon Kjaer’s retirement, and he does not intend to be the first Danish captain to miss a finals since Euro 2016.

To sharpen plans and gauge fitness, head coach Brian Riemer visited him in Marseille earlier this year.

Höjbjerg’s second season at OM has been taxing. Adrien Rabiot’s August exit and the absence of Valentin Rongier left him more exposed, and his constant on-pitch directions in Roberto De Zerbi’s framework irritated some supporters and a few team-mates.

Form has flickered back. New coach Habib Beye has handed him the OM armband in place of Leonardo Balerdi, and Höjbjerg now targets twin qualifications before, perhaps, weighing a future that might lie away from Marseille, where his deal runs to 2028.

Source: L'Équipe