BK Häcken collected 11 points from their six matches. Katariina Kosola played in the last match of the group stage as a full-back and was responsible for the full minutes.
Jonne Niemeläinen,
Timo Uusitalo
Katariina Kosola represented by the Swedish club BK Häcken beat Spain’s Real Madrid 1–0 (0–0) away from home in the women’s soccer Champions League on Tuesday and sealed their place in the quarterfinals at the same time.
– It’s certainly a surprise when you look at our group and who we played against, that we made it to the next round. However, we have always trusted ourselves and our own performance and that we can challenge and also beat these teams, Kosola commented to Urheilu.
Group D was won by Chelsea with 14 points. BK Häcken collected 11 points from their six matches, Paris FC collected seven and Real Madrid only one.
Few believed in advance that the team from Gothenburg, which finished second in the Swedish league, would advance to the next round, as Paris FC, for example, knocked out both Wolfsburg, the silver team in the Champions League last season, and Arsenal, the semi-final team, on the way to the group stage.
Kosola also played in the last match of the group stage as a full-back and was given responsibility for the full 90 minutes.
– Quite a defense-oriented game from me, and I didn’t really get to the ball. In the first half, there were difficulties on the wings, when the opponent had the upper hand on them. In the second half, things got better when I got help from the midfield. It often depends on communication, said the Finn.
– It wasn’t an easy game, of course, and we didn’t play at quite the same level as in the other group games. The character of the team is described by the fact that we were still able to win away from home, praised Kosola.
The semi-final places have already been allocated before the final round of A and B groups on Wednesday. Barcelona, Benfica, Lyon, SK Brann, PSG, Ajax, Chelsea and BK Häcken go into the group of eight.
In addition to Kosola, the Finns will play Brannin in the next games Joanna Tynnilä and Nanne Ruuskanen (injured).
The UWCL playoffs will be drawn on February 6.
Match results, standings