Andreas Cornelius

Andreas Evald Cornelius (born 16 March 1993) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Copenhagen and the Denmark national team.

Cornelius had joined the FC Copenhagen first team squad for its training camps in July 2011 and January 2012.

On 9 April 2012, he played his first Superliga match, coming on as a substitute for César Santin against AGF at NRGi Park in Aarhus. In the previous Superliga match (against Brøndby at Parken Stadium on 5 April 2012), he had been an unused substitute. On 20 May 2012, it was announced that Cornelius would join the first team squad on a permanent basis at the beginning of the upcoming season, together with Christoffer Remmer and Jakob Busk.

Cornelius scored his first goal for Copenhagen against Midtjylland in the first game of the new 2012–13 season. He scored the opening goal against Odense in a 2–2 draw. He also scored the winning goal against Molde FK in the Europa League on 20 September.

Cornelius was awarded player of the month in the Danish Superliga on 7 October 2012. On 15 April, he scored the final goal in a 3–2 win against FC Nordsjælland. This gave FCK a 10-point lead in the league to number 2, and was crucial for Copenhagen winning the title.

Even though Cornelius only played one full season with the first team, he quickly became one of the most popular players of the club, as the print with his name and number on the official shirts being the most popular, selling around 40% of all prints.

On 27 June 2013, Cardiff City announced they had signed Cornelius, for a club record fee. Reports from Denmark suggested a fee of 75 million Danish kroner (approximately £8 million). On 1 July, Cornelius completed his medical and signed a five-year deal with the club, saying "I've been given a great opportunity and this is a very exciting project that's taking place at Cardiff City." Twenty-three days later, he made his debut in a friendly against Forest Green Rovers and scored a goal in a 4–3 victory. However, he sustained a minor injury to his ankle during training the following week, and consequently missed out on the team's first ever Premier League game, against West Ham United on 17 August.^{[citation needed]}

Cornelius made his competitive debut for Cardiff on 25 August against Manchester City, coming on as a stoppage-time replacement for Fraizer Campbell who had scored twice in the 3–2 home victory. Three days later, in a League Cup match against League Two club Accrington Stanley, he made his first competitive start for the club in a 2–0 win; however he re-aggravated the ankle injury he had picked up in pre-season following a heavy tackle and was carried off on a stretcher just before half-time. The injury would prove worse than first feared; and left Cornelius on the sidelines for the next three months, meaning he missed 10 games for Cardiff, as well as the chance to compete for his country Denmark in their final qualification games for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.