Malmö FF has dominated Swedish football for the past decade or so, but had to settle for seventh place in the Allsvenskan last season.
Then Häcken struck with the club’s first SC gold – to this can also be added three Swedish Cup victories since 2016. The latest cup title was saved by Hisingslaget on Thursday away against Mjällby when it was a final victory with a clear 4-1.
“Has a lot of balls”
Now the teams collapsed at the stadium in Malmö. MFF came to the big meeting as series leader with eight victories out of a possible eight. Häcken was already six points behind, after there were losses against Halmstad and Kalmar.
It was noticeable during the first half that MFF had respect for Häcken. The home team dominated the match picture, but not at all to the same extent as against other opponents.
— The match picture is about exactly as we expected. We have a lot of the ball and they are switching, says MFF team captain Anders Christiansen to Discovery+ during the break.
The hedge midfielder Samuel Gustafson was satisfied with the team’s disciplined and low defensive play, but saw potential for improvement in the counterattacking game.
“We need to be sharper in our adjustment phase where there is an opportunity to hurt them, but we are simply not good enough so far,” says Gustafson.
Both teams each had their good chance in the first half, but the big uplift came immediately in the second act in front of just under 20,800 spectators.
Acknowledged immediately
It was barely 30 seconds old when Anders Christiansen came close to scoring the lead in Abrahamsson’s right cross.
Instead, it was Häcken who took the lead. In the 50th minute, center back Even Hovland reached the top of a right corner and the header was unattainable for Johan Dahlin in the home goal.
However, Malmö basically responded immediately. Success new acquisition Gabriel Busanello was suspended after three yellow warnings and instead veteran Martin Olsson stepped in as left back. In the 53rd minute, Olsson came to his edge and the 35-year-old’s cross finally found its way to Stefano Vecchia, who made it 1-1 behind Peter Abrahamsson in the away goal.
The ball over the goal line?
With barely a quarter of an hour left, it was almost dead quiet in the stadium – apart from the small away goal from Hisingen. The Dane Mikkel Rygaard then answered for a brilliant thrust deep into Bénie Traore and the Häckenanfallaren could score 2-1. With that, Traore moved up into sole scoring league lead on nine goals – one ahead of MFF striker Isaac Kiese Thelin.
In the 86th minute it was tied. Then MFF centre-back Derek Cornelius hit a hard cross from the left wing which Häcken centre-back Johan Hammar steered into the crossbar. The ball went down into the turf and the assistant referee signaled that the ball was over the line.
“For me, it’s not in,” says Johan Hammar to Discovery+.
MFF went for three points at the end, but the match ended 2–2.