Thursday's playoff meeting between Elfsborg and Molde was a dramatic story. Despite occasionally massive playing superiority, the Borås team never managed to break Molde's goal zero. When the guests' Veton Berisha scored 1-0 in the second half, it was instead a draw.
The result held until the penalty shootout.
In front of a wildly cheering home crowd, Isak Pettersson walked up to the goal to face Molde's different penalty takers.
I had a good feeling. Especially with the pressure the fans created. I can't put it into words, but I just enjoyed it, he says.
"Pressure on the shooter"
First, Pettersson saved Markus Kaasas' penalty and then saw Eirik Hestad shoot over. Meanwhile, he took the opportunity to do his best to psyche out the opponents.
I love that. As a goalkeeper, the pressure is on the shooter, and if I can do the slightest thing to make him hesitate, I do it. It's 'mind games' and I feel confident, says Pettersson.
"Took the chance"
The goalkeeper was recruited to the Borås team before the season and spent a large part of the spring on the bench behind the Dane Marcus Bundgaard Sørensen. But with the new coach Oscar Hiljemark's arrival, Isak Pettersson has since the summer gotten significantly more playing time.
When you get the chance, you have to take it, and I think I've done that. You want to play, so it's clear that it feels good. He (Oscar) told me to go out, do my best, and enjoy, says Pettersson.
The group stage of the Europa League will be drawn on Friday. It will be the first time since 2013 that the Borås team has played in a European group stage.
It's going to be a lot of cool matches and teams, but we should be competitive too. We shouldn't be satisfied with just getting into the Europa League, says Isak Pettersson.
Performance-based money in the Europa League:
Start sum: 49.1 million kronor (4.31 million euro)
Won match: 5.1 million kronor (450,000 euro)
Drawn match: 1.7 million kronor (150,000 euro)
Placement 1-8 in the league: 6.8 million kronor (600,000 euro)
Placement 9-16: 3.4 million kronor (300,000 euro)
Place in playoff to quarterfinals: 3.4 million kronor (300,000 euro)
Quarterfinals: 19.9 million kronor (1.75 million euro)
Semifinals: 28.5 million kronor (2.5 million euro)
Final place: 79.8 million kronor (7 million euro)
Winning the final: 68.4 million kronor (6 million euro)
Bonus for table placement in the group stage: A total sum is divided into 666 equal parts, where the winner gets a maximum of 36 parts and the worst-placed team gets 1 part. Each part is calculated to be worth approximately 855,000 kronor (75,000 euro).
+ There is also money from the so-called value pot, which collects money from TV deals sold in Europe and the rest of the world.
+ Elfsborg also gets money for the three first qualifying rounds (not the playoff round) of approximately 6 million kronor in total (175,000 euro per qualifying round).
+ Malmö FF qualified for the Europa League via loss in the playoff to the Champions League and gets 48.9 million kronor (4.29 million euro) extra in the form of a consolation sum, but no payment for participating in the earlier qualifying rounds.
Note: Exchange rate from August 27, where 1 euro corresponds to approximately 11.34 kronor.
