Little Djurgårdens IF shocked Europe’s elite to qualify automatically for the Champions League last 16 while defending their Swedish Allsvenskan title in 2040. Manager Trebor Mahtal now faced the task of strengthening a side for a tilt at the club’s first Champions League knockouts campaign.
That huge overperformance saw a plethora of clubs show interest in star players like left back Michel Augustinsson and winger Jakub Nowak, but they managed to hold on. They were joined by holding midfielder Boban Petrovic for £1.2m from Mahtal’s former club Crvena zvezda and another Swedish striker Simon Jensen for £2m from Norrköping.
Mahtal stuck with the 4-2-3-1 he’d used for the last couple of seasons. Wonderkid winger Joe Miles is almost natural from the left, young midfielder Ousmane Gningue steps up as first choice ahead of Mario Ndoj and Filip Hasbauer comes in at right back after Hans Mikander left the club for Lillestrom.
Mixing It With Europe’s Big Boys
Djurgårdens found themselves as very much the odd ones out as the Champions League last 16 draw was made. And they got one of the better draws available against Napoli. First up was a trip to Stadio Diego Armando Maradona with Augustinsson suspended and Nowak injured. The hosts bossed the game but Miles’ excellent first-half strike after he played a one-two from a corner earned a fairly lucky 2-1 defeat. Back at the Tele2 Arena, they started rightly as Thomas Papamichail pulled the ball back for Miles to curl home. The ref awarded a nonsense penalty but Nodoj immediately sent striker Carl Landén in to restore the lead on the night. And they were in front in the tie for the first time just after the break as neat play between Landén and Lindstrom sent Ndoj through to calmly finish. Napoli offered very little of threat and Djurgårdens claimed a huge 4-3 aggregate victory.
That set up a quarter final against Liverpool and Djurgårdens got a flyer as Landén poked home Miles’ cross. That was the only shot on target in the first half but Liverpool grew into the game and the ref did his bit to aid that by sending off Augustinsson before the hour mark. However, Djurgårdens defended heroically to repel everything that was thrown at them and earn a 1-0 win. At Anfield, Liverpool had a few early chances and took one but Djurgårdens were actually the better side and deservedly equalised through Papamichail. However, two goals in two minutes after an hour proved their undoing and Liverpool snuck through 3-2. But Mahtal was delighted with his side even competing with a side like Liverpool, who have 15 players earning more than Djurgårdens’ £140k weekly wage budget.
Liverpool went on to lose 2-0 to City (who Djurgårdens beat this season!) in the semis and Real Madrid made it back-to-back victories by beating City 1-0. Landén was the joint top scorer in the Champions League with 11 goals and Sebastian Billborn kept the most clean sheets with 8.
Targeting Three Successive Swedish Titles
Back-to-back titles saw Djurgårdens instilled as 11/10 favourites for Allsvenskan Unibet ahead of Hammarby (11/4) and Malmö (8/1). They showed why as a Nowak double led a 5-1 thrashing of Sirius on the opening day then put the Liverpool disappointment behind them with a Landén brace also downing Mjällby 5-1. Mahtal reached 900 games in management at Brommapojkarna and his side celebrated the landmark in style as Landén bagged a new club record four in a 7-1 thrashing.
They only dropped points once in the first 11 games, including back-to-back Gningue braces earning a 4-3 win at home to Norrköping and 2-1 win at Helsingborgs, before a 2-2 at Hammarby kept them two points behind. Striker Kjell Nilsson had forced a loan move against his manager’s wishes last season but returned just as Landén did his knee ligaments. And he returned in style with winners against Halmstads and Elfsborg before his side went top for the first time with five different scorers in a 5-3 thriller at home to AIK in late July. They consolidated top spot by dominating rivals Malmö 4-1 led by a Gningue first-half brace and Landén scoring one minute into his return off the bench.
The unbeaten record finally went with a rotated side losing 1-0 at home to Hacken, but they took a 4-point lead over Hammarby into the final five games. They started well as Papamichail’s brace led a 4-0 win at Vasalunds while Hammarby won 5-1 at relegated Mjallby. The title could then be decided or blown wide open as the top two went head-to-head at Tele2 Arena. Djurgårdens dominated the early stages and took advantage as Jensen converted after Landén’s strike rebounded off the post. They let Hammarby undeservedly level but Mahtal threw everything at it and got his reward as Lindstrom won a penalty and Jensen doubled his tally before Hammarby scored a late screamer.
That massive win moved Djurgårdens 7 points clear with three games to play. And they wrapped up a third successive title as Gningue’s brace led a 3-1 win at Halmstads. They celebrated the title with Jensen scoring twice in a 4-0 thrashing of Elfsborg then Papamichail, Ndoj and Miles secured a 3-0 win at Landskrona. That meant they wrapped up the league with new league records for wins (25), points (79) and goals (95), with just one defeat all season. Miles set a new league record 17 assists followed by 16 from Papamichail, who was the best player in the league with a 7.59 average rating.
Adding Swedish Cup Glory
Djurgårdens also cruised into the Swedish Cup Final by defeating Helsingborgs and Goteborg to face rivals Malmö. They suffered a blow as Landén was injured on 21 minutes and struggled to get going. But Miles scored just after the break and Fuad Sliskovic scrambled home his first for the club. Malmö offered nothing and Djurgårdens won their first Swedish Cup since 2036 and their third in 23 years.
More Champions League Football
Djurgårdens upgraded to enter the Champions League at the playoffs round and a 5-2 aggregate victory over Shamrock sent them into the league phase. They got a surprisingly nice start as they breezed to a 2-0 and 2-1 home wins over Osikek and Sparta Praha then Nilsson nicked a 2-1 win at Dinamo. But they lost 3-0 at home to PSG and 3-1 at Ajax to sit in a respectable 12th position.
Signing Out Of Sweden On A High
Mahtal enjoyed another massively successful season in Sweden, wrapping up a domestic double and pushing the mighty Liverpool all the way in the Champions League. This season’s star man was certainly Miles, who racked up an impressive 26 assists with 17 goals in 47 games with a 7.47 rating. Papamichail pushed him close with 16 goals and 21 assists along with Landén’s 23 goals and 9 assists, Jensen’s 20 goals and 8 assists, Gningue’s 15 goals and 5 assists, Ndoj’s 8 goals and 10 assists and Augustinsson’s 10 assists.
However, Mahtal felt he’d achieved everything he could at Djurgårdens after three league titles and a Europa Conference League victory. So when an exciting opportunity arose to a big challenge in a country he’d already managed in, he jumped at the opportunity. He leaves the club in a great place with the European success seeing the club sitting pretty financially with a massive £76m in the bank. Djurgårdens has been his longest reign at a club so far, playing 188 games in 1,252 days, of which he won 136, drew 23 and lost just 28 with a 72% win ratio. His sides scored 449 and conceded 174.
Where would Mahtal move in his 11th job in club management? Join us on Monday to find out!
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