Katariina Kosola’s Häcken and Joanna Tynnilä Brann suffered 1-2 defeats in the quarterfinals of the Women’s Champions League on Wednesday.
Timo Uusitalo,
Hinn Hirvonen
In the 1st quarter-finals of the Women’s Champions League Katariina Kosola Häcken succumbed to PSG with goals 1–2 and Joanna Tynnilän mixed Nanne Ruuskanen Brann as well for FC Barcelona.
Kosola toiled in Häcken’s defense for the full game, while Tynnilä, who received a yellow card, was in the three-player sub-section in the 79th minute. Ruuskanen was not in the lineup due to injury.
In Katariina Kosola’s opinion, everything is still open in the quarter-final series and Häcken can go with good confidence to the second part, which will be played in Paris in a week.
– We showed that (winning) depends on the little things. With a tight defense and the final solutions still in place, we will also be able to score goals, Kosola added.
As usual, Kosola played full minutes as a full-back.
– In the first half, we wasted quite a lot of the ball and were in a bit of trouble when our high press and even our low block didn’t work. In the second half, we improved a bit, but because of our small mistake, PSG was able to score a 2–1 winning goal.
Record audience behind
Kosola did not consider his own game to be perfect.
– Personally, I was in a hurry in the match and at the end it started to feel when I had to participate in the attacks and also work a lot in the defensive direction, where there were probably difficulties at times.
The match was watched by Häcken’s record audience, more than 6300 spectators in Gothenburg.
– It’s a great feeling when there are a lot of spectators and you can feel it on the field. It’s great that we are the only club to represent Sweden. Maybe the Swedish series is a bit underrated, I think we have a wide and tough series, Kosola stated.
PSG played against Kosola on Wednesday, for example Flame Martenswhich he will possibly face not only again in a week, but also when Helmarit faces Holland in the EC qualifiers, first away on May 31 and then again on June 4 in Tampere.
– You can learn a lot from these European games and it’s great to be able to play against the same tough players in the national team as well. These are very useful, European games always lead to national team games, Kosola said.
Tynnilä was substituted at the end, when Barcelona led the Norwegian Brann 2–1, and the Finn was burdened by a yellow card in the back lines. The great Spanish club Barcelona rose to victory Salma Paralluelon with a goal in the 72nd minute of the match.
WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 1ST SEMI-FINALS
Ajax – Chelsea 0–3
Benfica – Lyon 1–2
Häcken – PSG 1–2
Brann – Barcelona 1–2
The 2nd matches of the match pairs will be played on March 27 and 28.