Sweden’s Hammarby, represented by Anna Tamminen and Eva Nyström, advanced to the group stage of the Women’s Champions League for the first time.
12:15•Updated 12:22
Sweden’s Hammarby advanced to the group stage of the Women’s Champions League for the first time in its history late on Wednesday night. The team defeated the top Portuguese club Benfica with 3–2 on aggregate.
On Wednesday, it turned Portugal into a great 2-0 away win. Made a save with the team’s goal Anna Tamminenin addition to which Eva Nyström started as the second central defender.
Beating Benfica is a tough achievement, as the Portuguese club reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League last season. There it finally lost to Lyon, who were one of last season’s finalists.
The situation for the match played in Portugal was challenging for Hammarby, as it lost 1-2 in the 1st leg played at home.
– Unbelievable. We came out to win, but it felt like we gave too much of a handicap here. It was a much better performance at home, but here we took the result with us.
Tamminen recalls that in the Swedish media, Benfica was considered a nightmare opponent for Hammerby.
– However, it was a good challenge for us. There was no pressure, Benfica had it all the time. In that sense, we had good starting points for these two games.
The team celebrated their achievement yesterday with dinner at the hotel. At the same time, the upcoming Champions League job was sidelined a bit.
– We talked about the fact that this is a really good opportunity. We get to play against even better opponents and bring Hammarby to European courts.