Djurgården won his only second men’s Swedish derby against Hammarby since 2007 and although Joel Asoro has not been involved in any defeats against the rival before, it was with a redemptive feeling that he stepped off the field. after the 4–1 victory.
The season has been sluggish for the striker who did not get the game right when he received the trust from the coaching duo Thomas Lagerlöf and Kim Bergstrand. But against Hammarby, Asoro made perhaps their best match and had to crown their effort with the first Allsvenskan goal.
With a clinical finish with the right, he splashed the ball unreachably behind goalkeeper David Ousted.
– It was a lot of emotions. It’s so much that I’ve been through and everything just came out, says Asoro about his wild celebration after the goal and continues:
– This means a lot for the future, of course you are happy but now I just want to continue.
It was one of the Allsvenskans largest transfer transitions in the spring when it became clear that Djurgården recruited Joel Asoro on a four-year contract. But the former Sunderland player was also really untrained after a long period without playing time in Genoa and a six-month quarantine in Italy.
– Frustration. It has been hard, before I came to Djurgården I had not played football in a year. It takes a while, you do not read much media but you still want to show what you stand for. It was really time to score now, says Asoro and continues:
– This first half of the year has been really hard. I’m just grateful that Djurgården has set up, it’s a real family.
Now the form is on the rise and the hope is that it will now start to loosen for the 22-year-old.
– When I came here, I felt exhausted after ten minutes. I could not play and felt in my body. I had many flaws. But we have put together a plan that I have been following for several months. I knew it would come, it was just a matter of patience.
– Hjalmar Ekdal nodded in the 2-1 goal against his old team.
Photo: Erik Simander / TT
Another who got to shine with his first goal in Djurgården was Hjalmar Ekdal. When the midfielder nodded in the match-winning 2-1 goal, he lowered the team he joined from as late as last winter.
– Wonderful. The first goal in the Allsvenskan means a lot. Getting to do it against your old team can be a bit emotional but also nice and fun at the same time.
The derby victory was the first for both Ekdal and Asoro in Djurgården.
– There has been a lot of pressure from fans and other places that we can not win a derby but now we showed that we can win and we did it in a strong way, says Ekdal.
Keywords:
– I have heard a lot of stories about the derby, but I felt it was time to turn it around.
With the victory, Djurgården goes up in the series lead. However, the team has one match more played than AIK who visit Mjällby on Monday night and can regain first place.
Read more:
Djurgården’s derby hero spurred on by Hammarby’s coach: “Nice reading”
Disagree after the derby loss: “I think we have a lot of character”
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