Hecken drove over Mjällby – again – in the last round of the Allsvenskan spring season. Afterwards, there was less talk about the superior effort, more about a Danish wedding.
Because Mikkel Rygaard’s upload was unorthodox, he admits. At the same time: Saturday, June 10, 2023 had been circled in the calendar for over a year. Then Rygaard and his Nikoline would say yes to each other.
Häcken and Mikkel Rygaard had shaken hands, a so-called “gentlemen’s agreement”, that he would be allowed to attend the planned wedding. Therefore, the Hisingeklubben had to rent a private plane that flew him from Copenhagen to Gothenburg on Sunday.
— We had planned it before I came to Häcken. I didn’t think we would play a match the next day, but we solved it in a good way, says Rygaard after the victory against Mjällby.
“Cred to Mikkel”
He didn’t get to bed until the wee hours, the day before the match. And that with a few beers inside the vest. However, it did not seem to make a huge difference to a superior Häcken who won 3–0. Afterwards, coach Per-Mathias Högmo took the opportunity to pay tribute to his team, and not least Rygaard.
— I have to give credit to Mikkel. When Samuel (Gustafson) was away with a red card, we asked if he could play and he came by plane today and was great, says Högmo.
Mikkel Rygaard firmly claims that he drank water between laps and that he still managed 7-8 hours of sleep. In any case, he arrived in Gothenburg a couple of hours before the start of the match.
— It was a different upload, I’m still a bit tired but it worked well. Hopefully, I won’t be drinking beer before every game, he says.
17-year-old with goals and assists
Another who impressed at the Bravida arena was Pontus Dahbo. The 17-year-old recently scored one of the goals in the derby victory against IFK Gothenburg and contributed against Mjällby again with points. In the first half, he played center back Even Hovland and at the beginning of the second, he himself poked in the second Allsvenskan goal of his career.
— It has been incredibly fun. I have been given the chance to play and I think I have done well. It’s nothing I could have imagined, says Pontus Dahbo.
The next Allsvenskan match for Häcken is IFK Norrköping on July 2.