Forward of the Finnish women’s national football team San Francisco is facing a gigantic challenge with his club team Real Sociedad on Saturday. In the final match of the Spanish Cup played at the La Romareda stadium in Zaragoza, FC Barcelona, who dominated the fields of Spain and Europe in recent years, will face off.
On the other hand, Real Sociedad will have a flock of four thousand fans arriving from San Sebastian to support them.
– The atmosphere is really expectant and excited for both me and the team. The final of the Copa de la Reina is here for me first. Zaragoza is a good place to play because both teams have a relatively comfortable trip there, three hours by car. The fans are excited and live with it, as is usually the case here, Franssi describes over the phone.
Real Sociedad has celebrated winning the competition once, in 2019. Barcelona, on the other hand, has won the Cup nine times.
The preliminaries of the match are clear: Barcelona will go into the match as huge preliminaries. At the beginning of May, the club secured its fifth consecutive league championship. Out of a total of 28 matches they have played, they have won all but one – only Levante managed to draw against the Catalan giants. Next weekend, the team will also play in the Champions League final for the fourth time in a row.
– I believe that the role of the underdog suits us, the pressures are clearly on the opposite side. We have often managed to score against them, and so have many others. Yes, there are opportunities to score goals, but you have to be really clinical. Defensive play must be really tight. There are no big secrets to that, Franssi talks.
The Konkari striker admits that the odds are on Barcelona’s side, but that does not discourage the team.
– We believe in even small probabilities. On the league side, winning the championship is not so realistic, but the cup is a more realistic goal that the fans and the club dream of. Anything can happen in football. The Cup is a different competition, we often talk about the magic of the Cup. We’ve had an incredible flow, we’ve played really well and beaten really good opponents. We believe and trust that the flow will continue in the final.
The previous meeting between the teams ended with Real Sociedad’s dull 1-7 defeat. The Finnish striker watched the match from the bench.
– That game fell between two Cup semi-final matches. We changed the lineup quite a lot, invested in the Cup and saved energy for those matches, Franssi opens.
However, Franssi, who has lived in San Sebastian in the Basque Country since 2020, has faced the Catalan giant’s star team numerous times in his career.
– Their ball-playing and skills are absolutely incredible, and they also play wonderfully together. There is no question that they are not one of the best teams in Europe, if not the world. They have top individuals and they also throw some pretty tough players from the bench. It’s nice to watch from the outside, but when you play against them, you usually get a pretty good night out, Franssi laughs.
– But I also enjoy those games. I think it’s cool to get to play those games and measure your own and the team’s skills against the ultimate top.
“One of my best seasons”
Apart from the Cup, Real Sociedad’s season has gone below expectations. The team is eighth in the series and has won only eight of the 27 matches they have played.
– The team may not have had the best season. I haven’t scored as many goals as at the beginning of the year, but otherwise I’ve been satisfied with my season. This is definitely one of my best seasons here in Spain, Franssi talks.
Franss had a fast start to the year: he hit seven times in the six matches he played. Since then, there have been two hits, one of which was admittedly in the sweet spot in the semi-finals of the Cup, when Real Sociedad beat Atletico Madrid 2–1.
– I have played in a slightly different role, much more in the midfield than in the forward role. The season has been a bit different and I’ve had to learn new things. In general, I am satisfied that I have been able to play at a good level throughout the season.
Franssi’s contract expires in the summer. The English media, including the BBC, rumored Frans to England in the winter, but the Finnish striker stayed in Spain.
The World Cup drug remained non-existent
Last summer, Spain celebrated the world championship amid the commotion. The problems started even before the games, when many of the star players refused to play the controversial game Jorge Vildan under.
After the World Cup final, the whole world had to witness how the former chairman Luis Rubiales forcibly kissed the star striker Jenni Hermosoa, who was first pressured to remain silent. In the end, Hermoso filed a criminal complaint.
Rubiales was demanded to resign in demonstrations organized in Madrid and Barcelona, among others. In September, he finally agreed to leave his position.
Later, Vilda also resigned. However, the problems did not go away, and the Spanish national team players went on strike in September demanding changes to the union’s operating culture. The union finally agreed to the players’ demands and announced that it would make many athletic and structural changes.
Barcelona’s star player Fence Bonmati revealed in April that things haven’t exactly changed, however.
– I would like to say that everything has changed since the World Championship and that the World Championship gold gave us a lot of things. But I can’t even compare it to England and the EC gold. I think the world championship is a bigger thing than the European championship, but nothing has changed, especially not in our country’s main league. We have the same problems as before, and we have a lot of problems, Bonmati commented to the BBC.
Sanni Franssi is on the same lines as Bonmat.
– It (the world championship) hasn’t been seen at least enough. I think the league and the federation should have made better use of the momentum that came from the world championship. For example, there are still a couple of teams in the league that play on really bad artificial turf. It’s about the little things that the league should improve on. From the side of the association, there should be clear rules and conditions on how the clubs should operate, Franssi commented.
– If we played in better stadiums and fields, it would attract more audiences and thus interest would increase. However, the first step should be clarity and clearer rules regarding the minimum requirements.
However, according to Franssi, interest in women’s football has also grown in Spain.
– Media interest has grown. If I go to a local store or walk down the street, a few people always come to chat. At least here in San Sebastian, people are interested and they are aware of what is happening in both the men’s and women’s teams and who they will play against, for example, says Franssi.
Helmareite’s EC qualifiers continue on 31.5. and 4.6., when Finland meets the Netherlands at home and away. shows the games live on its channels and follows the games on its website.