Two teams that yearned to reverse a negative trend were pitted against each other at the Platinum Cars arena in Norrköping.
Before the round, “Peking” had six Allsvenskan games without a win. Norrköping probably hoped that recent acquisition Arnor Sigurdsson would reverse that trend with his return from CSKA Moscow. Although the Icelander won the award as player of the match, it was Gothenburg who took home three points.
“Morale in the team”
— A tough away game, but we have morale in the team and it shines through. Then you get three points away from home, says Gothenburg’s Gustav Svensson to Discovery+.
It was Gothenburg who took the lead in the match when 19-year-old starlet Hussein Carneil found a cross to Marcus Berg just before the half-time break. The former national team member was fairly surrounded by Norrköping defenders but found a pass between a pair of legs. And completely clean, with not a marker in sight, Simon Thern spot-kicked in 1-0 at the far post.
With twenty minutes to go, Sigurdsson found a detached Levi at the penalty spot. But Warner Hahn was determined not to retrieve any ball from his nets.
Norrköping had most of the ball, but instead of an equalizing goal, the cold shower came when Linus Wahlqvist and goalkeeper Oscar Jansson couldn’t decide who should act – Kevin Yakob took advantage of that board and rolled in 2-0 to the visitors.
“Bitter”
Firing coach Rikard Norling has so far not proved to be productive for “Beijing” who lost both of their last matches 0–2.
IFK Göteborg is seventh in the table, while Norrköping – who aimed high before the season – only have Varberg and Värnamo between them and the qualifying spot held by Helsingborg.
— It is bitter, frustrating. I think we play a good match, try and create. It’s quite heavy right now, says Norrköping’s striker Christoffer Nyman to Discovery+.