A season of very few goals left Trebor Mahtal well aware that he needed to improve FC Midtjylland’s attacking threat heading into the 2037/38 campaign. The manager attracted attention from FC Maribor, but they weren’t willing to pay Midtjylland’s compensation demands.
Mahtal was happy to stay in Denmark for a third season for the third time in his career. He strengthened in key areas, led by a big improvement at right back in Johannes Abschlag for £2.4m from Milan and winger Franciscus van Dyck, who’d been released by Lokeren. They were joined by midfielder Mamor Tall for £5m from Slavia Praha and goalkeeper Joseph Danning on a free from Spurs. Then in January, they pulled off a coup by snapping up wonderkid midfielder Jonatan Eknander for £1.5m from Häcken.
Back In European Competition
Last season’s improvement saw Midtjylland enter the Europa League first qualifying round, which is pretty lame for a team that finished 2nd. They started well as van Dyck scored five minutes into his debut before Martin Rasmussen and Joachim Juul braces downed Aris Limassol 5-0. And they dominated away, racking up an 8-0 win led by van Dyck’s brace. Next up was FCSB and exciting 16-year-old winger Jesper Backs and Rasmussen earned a 2-0 home win before a nervy 1-0 defeat in Romania. The third qualifying round saw them take on AEK and Juul’s first-half strike earned a 1-1 in Greece before van Dyck’s double led a crushing 5-2 home win. Qualification was on the line as they faced Young Boys in the playoff round. But they lost 2-1 at home and 4-1 away to drop into the Europa Conference League.
That was probably a blessing in disguise as it meant two fewer matches. Van Dyck and Rasmussen gave them a solid 2-0 start over Penybont before a surprisingly dominant 3-0 win at a beleaguered Atalanta. Ovidiu Vlad scored twice in a 4-1 win over APOEL, an unlikely brace by centre back Branko Music downed Mahtal’s former club Slovan Bratislava 3-2, and Backs bagged a hat trick in a 3-2 win at Bodø-Gllimt. And a 3-0 win at Sheriff saw Midtjylland top the league phase.
However, they got the worst draw possible in the last 16, missing out on the likes of Lincoln (GIB), SJK and Gorica to play Real Betis. They got battered in Spain but two late van Dyck strikes earned a relatively respectable 4-2 defeat. And their European campaign ended with a tame 1-1 draw at home.
Taking The Fight To København
København had won the last nine Danish titles and 15 of the last 16, so usurping them was going to be difficult. The bookies fancied Midtjylland’s chances a little better, predicting a 4th-place finish with 20/1 title odds level with AGF and Nordsjaelland. København are 4/11 favourites followed by Randers (15/2).
The new season began with Mahtal’s 700th match in management at OB, which saw his side nick a 3-3 after they got battered by 16 shots to seven. But at least they scored a few goals! They should have had another point a week later but conceded a 91st-minute winner at home to København, which had fans on Mahtal’s back as they’d gone six games without a league win back to last season. That extended with a 1-0 loss at AaB as they struggled to battle European qualification alongside league games. But they finally got a win as Juul, Rasmussen and Vaz’s first for the club led a 3-1 victory over AGF.
Midtjylland’s two young starlets Juul and Backs earned a 2-0 derby day win at Viborg and a rotated side drew 0-0 at home to Brøndby. Juul’s 90th-minute strike nicked a 3-2 win at home to Randers to lift Midtjylland back into contention, only to lose 4-3 at rivals Silkeborg. But a boring 0-0 at København saw the top of the league really tighten up with five points separating the top six in mid-October. That was part of a rare poor run for København, who dropped as low as 4th in November.
Danish Title Up For Grabs
Eknander had a dream debut, scoring and assisting Juul in a 3-0 win at home to Vejle to kick off 2038. His midfield partner Magnus Hørby scored a rare brace, his first two goals of the season, in a 4-1 win at bottom side Roskilde. That teed up a huge game as Midtjylland travelled to leaders Randers, of which the main talking point in the first half was the referee dishing out four yellow cards for six Midtjylland fouls as the visitors failed to muster a shot. Randers eventually took the lead but a few tactical tweaks paid off as midfielder Michael Høvenhoff fired in a howitzer from 25 yards. But the referee had the last laugh as he sent off left back Henrik Damsgaard in injury time, then Randers went and scored twice to leave Mahtal very frustrated with his players.
Another Hørby goal earned a 1-0 win at home to Silkeborg before an injury-hit side lost the final game of the regular season 2-0 at Nordsjaelland. That saw Midtjylland fall to 5th, trailing leaders Randers by 8 points going into the Championship Group.
The final phase began with games against the top two. First up, Eknander’s brace led a 2-1 win at home to AGF before a stunning performance to get revenge on Randers in a 4-0 win through Juul, Rasmussen, Eknander and 17-year-old centre back Steffen Kirchheiner’s first senior goal. That suddenly had Midtjylland just two points off the pace and they went top temporarily with a 4-1 win at Aalborg. However, just as Randers had fallen apart, København had hit top form again then thrashed Randers 5-1 to ominously move three points clear.
Midtjylland started brightly in a crunch game at København only for goalkeeper Viktor Guldager to gift the leaders an opener. It was all over just after the break and Rasmussen missed a sitter that could have given his team hope. Mahtal was yet again extremely unhappy with his players’ efforts and the whole of Danish football knew that the title was done and dusted as København moved 6 points clear.
Midtjylland’s outside hopes were all but ended by a 2-0 loss at AGF and very much ended by losing 1-0 at home to Randers. Rasmussen rescued a point at home to AaB after Guldager’s woeful goalkeeping again cost the team with an own goal, but that took Midtjylland to five games without a win. That became seven as Hørby’s double earned a 2-2 at Brøndby with Guldager having another stinker and the season ended by wasting 16 shots in a 1-0 defeat at home to København.
København wrapped up a 10th successive title by 7 points from Randers, while Midtjylland dropped to a disappointing 5th on the final day. They finished on 52 points after 15 wins, 7 draws and 10 defeats, scoring 58 and conceding 39.
More Danish Disappointment
Mahtal was pretty disappointed with the conclusion to the season, which saw his side drop out of title contention and finish in a distant 5th. Rasmussen was again their top scorer with 22 in 46 followed by the relatively impressive van Dyck (16), Juul (12) and Backs (10). Their young hopes Juul and Backs led the way with 12 assists followed by van Dyck (9), Abschlag (8) and Rasmussen and Vlad (7).
The potential at Midtjylland was confirmed by having three players in NxGn 2038 led by Backs in 10th place, Juul in 21st and Eknander in 24th. However, Mahtal was done with his time in Denmark, as the club was haemorrhaging money every month and it didn’t look likely they’d get close to København any time soon. So, at the conclusion of the Danish season, Mahtal resigned from his position as manager of FC Midtjylland.
He departs after three trophyless campaigns in Denmark, in which he took charge of 125 games, winning 56, drawing 33 and losing 36. His Midtjylland sides scored 206 and conceded 146.
Where would he end up on the next leg of his EuroTrip? Join us on Friday to find out!
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