– It’s insanely sad. Over two games, I think we are quite clearly better. There are margins in football and in this double match here we had all the margins against us, says goalscorer Eirik Hestad to TV 2. Molde put in a valiant effort and were for a long time the best team in Istanbul on Tuesday night, but eventually lost 1-2 away against Galatasaray. That result means that the blue shirts will once again have to watch the Champions League from the TV room at home. – They have, in the course of two games, two free-kick goals via the wall. It’s almost impossible to believe. It is so bitter. It’s just heavy, says Molde’s Martin Ellingsen to TV 2. It all turned out in the most bitter way possible for the Norwegian league champion. Molde created enough chances to win the game, but squandered a number of good opportunities at Rams Park. – We see that we have something to do here. They have single players. We have teams. The sum of the eleven – in terms of performance, we are stronger than them over two games. And then they have individual individuals and a bit of incompetence on our part that decide that, says Moe. VAR drama Superstar Mauro Icardi scored from a penalty after just four minutes, before Eirik Hestad equalized at 1-1 25 minutes before the end. Ten minutes from time, however, Veton Berisha, the 30-million man, thought he had sent the game to extra time with a late goal. But the goal was disallowed for offside. – With VAR, I couldn’t even cheer. I don’t take anything in advance anymore. When I see a ball cross the line, I just wait to check if it’s a goal, says Hestad, adding that it looked suspicious from his angle. Instead, it was the hosts who, against the run of play, increased to 2–1 when a free kick from Angelino hit Martin Ellingsen, changed direction and ended up in the net. It was simply not Molde’s night. – Unfortunately, in the end it is the skill in both boxes that decides it, says Moe. Erling Moe can be satisfied with much of what Molde achieved in Istanbul on Tuesday evening. Photo: Svein Ove Ekornesvåg / NTB 16th year in a row This is the 16th year in a row that the Champions League is played without Norwegian participation. Not since Rosenborg took part in the 2007/08 season has a team from Norway played a group stage in the world’s most prestigious and prestigious tournament. Even if there will be no Mesterliga group stage at Aker Stadion this autumn, the people of Moldavia can look forward to the next best option: the Europa League. Can face big teams When the group stage is drawn on 1 September, Erling Moe and his men will be guaranteed opposition from a very high international class there too. Liverpool, Brighton, West Ham, Real Betis, Villarreal, Marseille, Roma and Sporting are just some of the formidable opponents who can visit Aker Stadium this autumn. This is how the Europa League group stage is played Matchday 1: 21 September 2023 Matchday 2: 5 October 2023 Matchday 3: 26 October 2023 Matchday 4: 9 November 2023 Matchday 5: 30 November 2023 Matchday 6: 14 December 2023 Source: Uefa.com And although If the Champions League had been even more lucrative, playing in the Europa League also makes money. Molde is already paid around NOK 57 million in bonuses for reaching the playoff round in the Champions League. In addition, Molde, and the 31 other clubs that qualify for the group stage in the Europa League, receive around 43 million in bonus each. Guaranteed 100 million In other words, Molde is guaranteed around NOK 100 million for its participation in the second biggest tournament, official figures from Uefa show. In addition, for each win in the Europa League, Molde will be paid NOK 7.3 million, and for each draw NOK 2.4 million will be paid out. Molde will play six games in the group stage. The winners of the group stage will receive more than NOK 12 million. Second place gets 6.3 million. In addition, there are ticket revenues, TV money and coefficient payments in addition to the sums above. Molde will thus be guaranteed well over NOK 100 million already, before a single match has been played in the Europa League group stage. Penalties, wasted chances and injury bonanza The match itself in Istanbul on Tuesday evening started promisingly, with two big Molde chances. First, Magnus Wolff Eikrem got the ball at the feet of 30 meters when the goalkeeper was on the move, but the Molde captain did not remain calm enough to fine-tune his aim and shot wide from long range. A minute later, Molde countered, national team member Emil Breivik released Ola Brynhildsen, but unfortunately for the blue shirts, he shot over from 10 metres. It was a hectic start to the match, because the match was only four minutes old when Galatasaray received a penalty when Martin Ellingsen brought down Mauro Icardi in the box. – The penalty kick is fine. It’s just bad of me, says Ellingsen to TV 2. The aforementioned Icardi was safe as a bank and scored 1-0 from the chalk mark. And suddenly Molde’s marathon was turned into an ultra race. Had to replace two with injuries Worse for Molde it was after a quarter of an hour. Erling Knudtzon and Markus Kaasa went bald in a duel and both went down for the count. Knudtzon was bleeding profusely and was clearly shaken by the blow. After almost ten minutes of treatment, both Knudtzon and Kaasa had to be replaced in favor of Eirik Hestad and Mathias Løvik. A short time later, Hestad was to have an enormous opportunity to equalise. He got the ball in front of the goal in a brilliant position, but was hardly aware of how much time he had. The finish was therefore not good enough, and Fernando Muslera made a relatively simple save for a corner. Norwegian teams’ attempts to reach the Champions League since 2007: In 2007, Rosenborg qualified for the Champions League group stage after beating Astana and Tampere in the qualifiers. Since then, there have been 15 Norwegian downturns. Just look here: 2008: Fire broke out against Marseille in the third qualifying round. 2009: Stabæk went out against FC Copenhagen in the third qualifying round. 2010: RBK went out against FC Copenhagen in the playoffs. 2011: RBK went out against Viktoria Plzen in the third qualifying round. 2012: Molde went out against Basel in the third qualifying round. 2013: Molde went out against Legia Warszawa in the third qualifying round. 2014: Strømsgodset lost against Steaua București (now FCSB) in the second qualifying round. 2015: Molde went out against Dinamo Zagreb in the third qualifying round. 2016: Rosenborg went out against Apoel in the third qualifying round. 2017: Rosenborg went out against Celtic in the third qualifying round. 2018: Rosenborg went out against Celtic in the second qualifying round. 2019: Rosenborg went out against Dinamo Zagreb in the playoffs. 2020: Molde went out against Ferencváros in the playoff. 2021: Bodø/Glimt went out against Legia Warszawa in the first qualifying round. 2022: Bodø/Glimt went out against Dinamo Zagreb in the playoffs. 2023: Molde in the playoffs. Must beat Galatasaray on Tuesday night to qualify. Hestad scoring The second half began as the first half had for a long time, with an offensive Molde team that created dangers in front of the goal. And this time Eirik Hestad hit better when he equalized at 1-1 with a fine finish after good Molde play 66 minutes into the match. Thus, the Romsdalingen had just under half an hour to score another goal which would equalize the match overall. Barely fifteen minutes before the end, substitute and millionaire Veton Berisha had a giant chance to score. He came alone with Muslera, but from an angle the finish was saved for a corner. VAR cancellation Ten minutes before the end, Berisha thought he had put Molde up 2-1, but in dramatic fashion the goal was correctly canceled for offside. Instead, it was Angelino who decided the game with a free kick from long range in overtime. Thus it ended 2-1, a result that will probably annoy the Moldensians for a long time. The Norwegian team deserved better.
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The Champions League dream burst – Molde to the Europa League – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
