The requirement to reach the round of 16 in the tournament was a spot among the 24 best teams. Elfsborg held on to it before the end of the league play in London. A few hours later, the club landed in 26th place and the adventure in Europe is over for this time.
Around 3,000 traveling supporters cheered from the away section at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The yellow-black sea had not much to rejoice about except for the result as long as Elfsborg kept the score 0–0.
Noticeable difference
The difference between a Premier League club in the middle of the season and an Allsvenskan club with two months left until the league premiere was... well, noticeable to put it mildly.
Elfsborg did not get the opportunity to make many passes within the team. It was all about defending the goal. Defensively, Son Heung-min occasionally toyed with right-back Simon Hedlund.
Isak Pettersson's brilliant saves kept the outplayed Elfsborg in the match – and in the playoffs.
Elfsborg's best chance was created at the beginning of the second half. Besfort Zeneli's shot changed direction via a defender, landed with Jalal Abdullai, who lifted the ball over the crossbar.
Kulusevski scored the goal
Tottenham started with Lucas Bergvall in the central midfield. National team colleague Dejan Kulusevski came in after the break. Kulusevski got a leading role.
It was on his inward-curved cross that substitute Dane Scarlett nodded in 1–0.
At that moment, Elfsborg was in 24th and last playoff spot, on the same points, on exactly the same goal difference (9–12) as Braga – but ahead due to more goals scored away.
Hard to swallow
At the same time, it would have been enough with a winning goal for either Twente or Besiktas in Enschede to knock out Elfsborg.
And that goal came, through Daan Rots for Twente.
It's hard to swallow. It would have felt better to come last than that damn goal difference. Give it some time and we can be proud and happy about what we've done. We've done incredibly well, but this we need to digest first, says Elfsborg's Sebastian Holmén to Aftonbladet.
When Oyindamola Ajayi made it 2–0 for Tottenham, the playoff chances deteriorated drastically. And after Mikey Moore's 3–0, it was all definitely over.
Malmö FF, without a chance to reach the playoffs, concluded the Europa League by turning 0–1 to 2–1 away against Slavia Prag. Taha Ali and Hugo Bolin scored the goals, but it was not enough for victory. Slavia equalized and the match ended 2–2.
Teams 1-8 in the league play in Europa League that are clear for the quarterfinals: Lazio, Athletic Bilbao, Manchester United, Tottenham, Eintracht Frankfurt, Lyon, Olympiakos, Glasgow Rangers
Teams 9-24 play the round of 16. Teams 25-36 are eliminated.
