Facts: Häcken’s upcoming matches in the Europa League
October 26: Molde-Häcken
November 9: Häcken-Molde
November 30: Häcken-Bayer Leverkusen
December 14: Qarabag-Häcken
The historic Europa League premiere two weeks ago was not a funny story. Away from home, Häcken lost heavily against Bayer Leverkusen (0–4). Afterwards, team captain Samuel Gustafson admitted that the German team was “damn good”.
The match against Qarabag on Thursday was more even. First with 20 minutes to play, Brazilian striker Juninho broke the deadlock when he made it 1-0 to his Qarabag side.
Hecken, on the other hand, would have had a penalty already after ten minutes. Then Mikkel Rygaard was brought down at the height of the penalty area line. But Austrian referee Sebastian Gishamer blew for a free-kick and was backed up by the video review team – despite replays appearing to show the contact was inside the penalty area.
— He cuts my leg inside the box, so right now I think it’s a penalty. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way, says Rygaard after seeing pictures of the situation himself.
“Home” at Ullevi
Rygaard was then close to setting the subsequent free kick that brushed the top of the crossbar.
In the mixed zone, he meets up with a real pork lip after receiving an elbow from Marko Jankovic. A situation where Häcken wanted a red card.
“My wife is the dental assistant, so she can check if there is anything wrong with my teeth,” says Rygaard.
Due to Uefa rules, Häcken plays its European home matches at Nya Ullevi instead of at Bravida Arena, which does not meet the confederation’s requirements.
The 8,024 supporters who made it to Ullevi were not even close to filling up the – in the context – gigantic arena, but still managed to offer a surprisingly good atmosphere in the cold October evening.
Häcken’s supporters during Thursday’s football match in the Europa League between BK Häcken and Qarabag. Prepared for protests
Qarabag originally comes from the city of Agdam. However, due to the bloody conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the city was destroyed. Since 1993, the club has played its home matches in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku.
After new disputes broke out since last summer, coach Gurban Gurbanov said on Wednesday that he had prepared his team for possible protests from the stands.
However, no protests were noticed. On the other hand, the small clique of Azeri supporters who were in place at Ullevi had reason to celebrate after the victory match, which also gives over seven million in prize money.
The loss means that Häcken has zero points after two played group stage matches. It also has Molde, who in turn lost against Bayer Leverkusen in the same group.
— We still believe we can progress out of the group. The first match was tough, but today we came up a step. We could have won, says Mikkel Rygaard.