AALBORG, DENMARK - Aalborg BK saw their UEFA Cup knockout hopes doomed when Spanish side Getafe CF took home a 2-1 result in front of 10,634 spectators at Aalborg Stadion on Thursday evening.

Captain Danny Califf played 85 minutes in central defense before being thrown up front in a last-ditch effort to make a result.

It was the hosts who would have the first chance of the game in the third minute when Califf hoisted a long ball into the area. Rade Prica nodded it back for Thomas Enevoldsen, who sent his shot wide.

While the home side had started out with same optimistic style as against Tottenham, it was the Spaniards who went on to open the game after 10 minutes when Fabio Celestini outran Martin Pedersen on the right flank and squared it for Pablo Hernandez to send it in past Karim Zaza.

"The ball swung in and I think Michael (Jakobsen) got wrong-footed," Califf explained to American Soccer Daily after the game. "He stepped forward and the ball ended up behind him."

"It was myself and (Thomas) Augustinussen with two of their guys, and it hit one of their guys' back and goes in so it was a bit of a fluke. I think it took everybody by surprise."

The next stretch belonged to Getafe, and only three minutes later, a poor defensive clearance after a corner gave Cata Diaz an opportunity, but he was unable to connect properly on the turn and sent his shot over the crossbar.

The guests came close again in the 16th minute when Lucas Licht took a shot from outside the area, but this time Zaza saved it out for a corner.

AaB managed to shake off the disappointment of the early goal, and in the 22nd minute, Augustinussen went down in the penalty area trying to get to a Pedersen free kick, but the penalty appeals went unheard.

Three minutes later, AaB came close when Kasper Risgård lobbed the ball into the area. Curth nodded it on for Enevoldsen, but his attempt went high and wide.

Just after the half hour mark, Pedersen sent a diagonal ball into the area for Prica, but his header went straight at Argentinean keeper Roberto Abbondanzieri.

Risgård took the last chance of the half when he fired from 20 yards out, but Abbondanzieri saved near the right post for a corner.

While AaB had dominated most of the first half, it was a completely different Getafe team that took the field for the second. The hosts also started to become far more sloppy with their passing and were lucky not to concede again from two early chances. A cross from Licht found a wide open Manu four minutes in, but the shot went over the crossbar.

Two minutes later, Manu made his own way into the penalty area, but this time Zaza made the save.

Aalborg had a few chances in the beginning of the second half. Allan Olesen sent in a cross after 56 minutes. Prica's header was going wide, but David Belenguer put his head to it to prevent Curth from connecting and nearly put the ball in his own post.

Five minutes later, Dutch defender Steve Olfers failed to step up for the offside trap to allow Braulio one-on-one with Zaza, but the AaB keeper made another save.

Braulio came close again in the 70th minute when he picked off a poor pass from Jakobsen and fired a hard shot from the edge of the box just wide.

Two minutes later, a through ball was sent in for Rubén de la Red, but once again, Zaza came out on top.

With 13 minutes left on the clock, however, Zaza's luck had run out. Esteban Granero made a run up the middle, and under pressure from the Aalborg defense, took the shot from 20 yards out, sending it over Zaza and into the top left corner.

"There's four guys around the ball, he's 20-22 meters from goal and somehow it makes it over Karim," said Califf. "He hit it well, but I don't know really how it went over."

The second goal sparked massive AaB pressure for the rest of the game. Only two minutes later, Andreas Johansson found Siyabonga Nomvethe on the left. The South African made a move infield and fired from the edge of the box, but his shot sailed just wide of the right post.

Jakobsen sent a free kick into the wall with six minutes left and Rade Prica sent his rebound attempt just over.

Throwing everything forward in the last few minutes, Califf was sent up next to Prica in the hope that he could get his head to crosses and long balls forward.

"We knew we were going to be throwing some balls forward in the air so it was just to get another body, another big player up front," said the American. "It certainly wasn't because of my striking ability."

Prica was close again in the 89th minute when Olesen found him wide open right in front of goal, but somehow, Abbondanzieri got himself in the way of the finish.

Aalborg finally pulled one back a minute into stoppage time, when Nomvethe sent in a cross from the left. This time, Prica connected cleanly and sent the ball past the keeper.

Seconds later, it could have been 2-2 when the ball bounced around Getafe's penalty area with several attempts from Nomvethe and Prica, but in the end, a defender cleared and the 2-1 scoreline stood.

"We had the better of them, I think, to start it out and we had some good chances to score," stated Califf. "They took momentum in the second half. It seemed like we came a little bit sluggish out of the locker room."

"We held on. Karim kept us in it with a couple of big saves and we had chances to come back level. It's a big disappointment knowing that we're playing well enough to take points from these teams and win games and we're not able to do it."

"We had an open net. Rade had a one-on-one with the goalie from a meter, I think, but it wasn't our night. If it was against Lyngby we would have scored eight of those goals, but tonight it just wasn't going to go in for us."

With Anderlecht at the same time managing a draw against Tottenham, the result means that Aalborg BK have all but played out their role in this year's UEFA Cup, but the motivation for the final round is clear.

"I think we're a better team than to be at the bottom of this group," added Califf. "I think the group has been good. Getafe is a very good team, Tottenham is a very good team and Anderlecht is a very good team, but I think that we've stood up to each of them and we've had our moments in the game. I feel like one point is not good enough for the way that we've performed."

"I think it would be letting ourselves down if we didn't take the final game, try and take three points and stand up in the group and say that we deserve four points. Through our performance, we think that we could have been up there."

AaB face Israeli side Hapoel Tel Aviv away in the final round on December 19th.

ASD's Three Stars
#1 Manu
#2 Pablo Hernandez
#3 Karim Zaza

Scoring
GET - Pablo Hernandez 2 (Fabio Celestini) 11'
GET - Esteban Granero 3 78'
AAB - Rade Prica 2 (Siyabonga Nomvethe) 90+1'

Line-ups
AAB - Karim Zaza; Michael Jakobsen, Martin Pedersen (Steve Olfers 58'), Danny Califf, Andreas Johansson, Thomas Augustinussen, Rade Prica, Jeppe Curth, Allan Olesen, Kasper Risgård (Siyabonga Nomvethe 58'), Thomas Enevoldsen (Mattias Lindström 77')

GET - Roberto Abbondanzieri; Cosmin Contra, Cata Diaz, David Belenguer (Pedro Mario 80'), Fabio Celestini (David Cortés 59'), Nóbrega Braulio, Rubén de la Red, Lucas Licht, Manu (Juan Albin 76'), Pablo Hernandez, Esteban Granero