EuroTrip | Part 23 | King Of Europa Conference League

A strange 12 months had seen Trebor Mahtal spend a very short time in Turkey before jumping ship to Molde Fotballklub, who narrowly missed out on the Norwegian title to Brann. Mahtal had inherited a good core of young players but was expecting a very busy off-season ahead of the 2043 campaign.

The winter break began with some odd news as newly elected chairperson Jørgen Sjønnesen announced plans to leave Aker Stadion. That could mean a new stadium or a move to an unused stadium, such as the council-owned Ole Gunnar Solskjaer Park, which was built in 2040.

Mahtal’s good financial management saw the club’s bank balance boosted to £38m. He had a transfer kitty of £20.2m and a weekly wage budget of £426k, of which he was spending just £213k. That was boosted by the inevitable sale of star player Mika Hyypiä, who joined Panathinaikos for a record fee received by a Norwegian club of £15m, which usurped the £10.75m received from Chelsea for Datro Fofana in 2023. Mahtal also sold winger Anton Tahiri to Iraklis for £2.6m, defender Aleksander Nikolic to Saudi for £1.7m, while fellow starters Horvat and Oren joined AEK at the end of their contracts.

Mahtal replaced Hyypiä with two exciting strikers in Ecuadorian David Muñoz for £4.9m from København and Fabián Otero for £2.5m from Peñarol. He also raided Vålerenga for winger Kasper Kvalsund and Thai/Norwegian full back Kitti Pinkaew and signed Costa Rican full back Gerardo Navarro for £4.3m from Stuttgart and Greek international midfielder Vissarion Melissanidis for just £35k from Panathinaikos.

With that transfer activity done, Mahtal opted to go with the 4-2-4 approach he introduced at the end of last season with a few tactical tweaks. The team has a nice mix of young homegrown prospects and exciting foreign talent. That includes Navarro coming in as an inverted right back, youngsters Rudi Nordhagen and Christer Fredriksen competing with Melissanidis and Thomas Bade for the midfield roles and 18-year-old Jon Edøy stepping up as a wide target man.

Conference League Knockouts

Molde breezed through the league phase and began 2043 with a last-16 clash with Cukaricki. Annoyingly, he was only allowed to add three more players for the knockouts, so some signings had to miss out. A wild first leg in Serbia saw striker Bernt Gunnar Siira Sivertsen grab a 3-3 before Edøy and striker Vegard Djuphagen earned a 2-1 home victory. Elsewhere, Mahtal’s former Danish rivals Häcken blew the competition wide open by knocking out Real Betis 4-3. That created a very open draw as Molde drew Finnish side KäPa, the winner of which would face Häcken or Hammarby in the semi, while Vålerenga or Iraklis would face Lugano or Olympiacos.

Molde dominated the early stages of the quarter final home leg and eventually scored as left back Atle Dalby’s hopeful deep cross was missed by the keeper and headed in by Djuphagen. But they only won 1-0 despite racking up 2.24 xG. They also dominated away, racking up another 1.9 xG, but lost to KäPa’s only shot on target. It went all the way to penalties and goalkeeper Thomas Einang was the hero as he saved the host’s fourth penalty to send Molde through.

Waiting for them in the semis was Mahtal’s former foe Hammarby and late goals by centre back Magnus Langø and Bade earned a draw on their manager’s return to Sweden. They started the home leg brightly and took advantage as Dalby again set up Djuphagen for the opener. And they were soon 2-0 up as Otero sent his strike partner Siira Sivertsen through to finish. Molde bossed the game with Hammarby only showing any threat from corners, hitting the bar from one on 83 minutes and scoring from one three minutes later. But Molde just held on to claim their place in the Final!

Another Europa Conference League Final

Mahtal absolutely loved the Conference League, having won it with both Dynamo Kyiv and Djurgårdens and been runner-up with Slovan Bratislava. This time, his Molde side’s first-ever European Final saw them take on Greek team GS Iraklis Salonika, who kept trying to buy his players following a tycoon takeover in 2035. 60,000 fans from Norway and Greece descended on the Spanish city of Sevilla for the Final at Real Betis’ Estadio Benito Villamarín. Mahtal had no injury concerns so lined up:

Einang; Navarro, Langø, Prepelita, Dalby; Nordhagen, Bade; Edøy, Djuphagen; Otero, Siiva Sivertsen
Subs: Grønli, Vassgard, Flovik, Fredriksen, Dahir, Holt, Pinkaew, Haukelidseter, Mihaylov

Molde started brightly and took advantage as Navarro’s floated pass found to Djuphagen to finish at the back post. They dominated the first half by 11 shots to one but didn’t make any more count. So Mahtal gave them a telling-off and got the desired result as Edøy crossed for his opposite winger Djuphagen to double his tally. Iraklis finally created something and scored their first shot on target but Molde didn’t worry as Bade sent Otero through to restore the two-goal lead. It nearly got even better as Otero hit the post in injury time. But Molde strolled to an easy win.

Molde won Mahtal’s third Europa Conference League!

Bright Start To Eliteserien

Molde oddly dropped to 4th favourites for Eliteserien at 6/1 behind Brann, Rosenborg and Vålarenga (9/4, 4/1 and 11/2). They opened up with Muñoz’s debut goal and Edøy earning a 2-1 win at home to Strømsgodset before Kvalsund laid on goals for Edøy and Otero’s first for the club in a 2-0 win at Åsane. And a big early game saw Molde continue their bright start as Muñoz’s late winner nicked a 3-2 win over Vålarenga. They won the first five games before a 0-0 at Sogndal but Muñoz’s brace earned a 2-0 victory over Odd then Mahtal’s 1,000th match in management saw a 2-1 defeat at Lillestrøm just three days before the ECL Final.

Molde’s hopes weren’t helped as 10 players were called up to the U21 European Championship, which left Mahtal with 14 first team players. Typically, they had to play their biggest two title rivals and lost 2-1 at champions Brann and earned a 0-0 at home to Rosenborg, who both had zero players away. That left them 2nd only to Lillestrøm on goal difference after 11 games. Mahtal was then forced to play a greyed-out left back as they drew 2-2 at home to 4th-place Sarpsborg. The U21 internationals returned for a trip to rivals Bodø-Glimt but the winless streak extended to four with a 1-0 defeat.

They finally got a week off so Mahtal treated the squad to a five-day break. That seemed to work as his side thumped Moss 4-0 with goals by Muñoz, Nordhagen, Kvalsund and Dalby then Ullern 5-1 led by Kvaslund’s hat trick. That sent Molde onto a superb run of seven wins in eight games, which left them just one point back from Lillestrøm with eight games remaining. That teed up a big top-two clash at Molde Stadion, which Molde completely blew by allowing the visitors to score their first two shots on target then, having fought back, allowed them to score their and fourth shots on target. And Mahtal was raging.

Molde responded to that setback in style as Edøy and Djuphagen goals led a 3-0 win over 3rd-place Fredrikstad that virtually locked down 2nd. However, they immediately threw away any confidence from that win by getting thrashed 4-1 at rivals Rosenborg. That effectively killed off their title hopes as Lillestrøm won a sixth successive game to move seven points going into the final five games.

As a result, Mahtal decided to test out a 3-5-2 approach he’d had in mind in the run-in. That started pretty nicely as they defeated Brann 2-0, racking up 27 shots and making two count as Kvalsund created goals for Melissanidis and Muñoz. A tired and suspension-hit team drew 1-1 at Sarpsborg and 0-0 with Bodø-Glimt and Ullern. They eventually did lock down 2nd place for a second season, finishing 3 points back from Lillestrøm, who conveniently dropped a few points late on. Molde actually got 3 points fewer than last season, finishing on 61 after 18 wins, 7 draws and 5 defeats, scoring 61 and conceding 34.

Celebrating More European Success

Coming into this challenge, Mahtal certainly wasn’t expecting to compete in European competitions with teams outside of Europe’s top seven nations. However, he was delighted to lift a fourth European trophy and a third Europa Conference League. He considered jumping ship over the winter but the lack of a Norwegian title made him lean towards staying at Molde.

Molde’s star man this season had been Muñoz, who scored 19 in 35 followed by Kvalsund and Siira Sivertsen (11), Djuphagen (8) and Edøy (7). Edøy and Kvalsund led the assists with 19 followed by Nordhagen, Siira Sivertsen and Navarro (6). However, only four players achieved an average rating of over 7, which offered some cause for concern.