Elfsborg hoped to get help from the snowy weather when the Borås team received Nice in the European Championship football on Thursday evening. In the first half, there was neither snow nor goals – but after the halftime break, snowflakes began to fall.
And then came the goal. With a little over an hour played, central defender Gustav Henriksson could nod in the 1–0 goal for Elfsborg on a corner, to the great jubilation of the home crowd.
It's impossible to describe, it's completely crazy, says the goal scorer about the feelings after the goal.
Saved on the goal line
Nice, who hadn't taken a single point on away games during the European Championship league play, were pushing hard for an equalizing goal, but the margins were on Elfsborg's side.
Not least through goalkeeper Isak Pettersson, who, among other things, managed to steer a heavy shot into the crossbar, but also goal scorer Henriksson, who stood in exactly the right place – on the goal line – and could prevent the ball from going in with the help of his chest.
Elfsborg managed to hold on despite the pressure from Nice, and 1–0 became the final result. With the win, the team climbs to 20th place in the table, with ten points earned. With that, they are ahead of teams like Roma and Besiktas.
It's completely brutal. What a match we're doing, we're holding on and we're winning, and we have ten points in the European Championship, it's crazy. It was tough minutes almost the entire second half, it was tough and time went slowly, but we solved it and it's incredibly well done by the entire team, says Henriksson.
Decisive next week
The European Championship's new league format, where 24 of 36 teams advance to the playoffs, will be decided next week. Then, Elfsborg, with everything in their own hands, will face Swedish team Tottenham on away ground in the last league match.
It's clear it's an incredibly tough away match we have against Tottenham. Hopefully, we'll make a really good match there too, but now it's just focus on celebrating today, and tomorrow it's focus on Tottenham, says Henriksson.
