SION, Switzerland (AP) — Norway winger Caroline Graham Hansen showed Sunday why she was second in the Ballon d’Or vote last year to her superstar Barcelona teammate Aitana Bonmatí.
Graham Hansen lifted Norway to the brink of advancing to the quarterfinals of the Women’s European Championships with a decisive late goal in a 2-1 win over an impressive Finland which deserved more.
In the 84th minute of a tied game, there seemed little danger when she got the ball tight on the right wing marked by two Finland opponents 40 meters (yards) from goal.
Graham Hansen dribbled past both opponents, darted into the penalty area, met two more defenders, deceived them and created space to float a deft chip that went into the net off the far post.
Maybe it was a cross aimed for Norway captain Ada Hegerberg but it still looked great. Hegerberg, a Ballon d’Or winner, put her hands to her head as in disbelief at what Graham Hansen had done.
“It was a half-shot, half-cross,” Graham Hansen acknowledged. “If it wasn’t going in, it was going to Ada. You have to make something happen out of nothing.”
Just three minutes earlier, she had missed a much easier chance to win the game by scooping a shot over the bar when having almost too much time to think and pick her spot.
“You maybe feel like that was the chance that could have secured the victory,” Graham Hansen said. “But you can’t stay in the past.”
It left Finland coach Marko Saloranta praising “a world-class player, among the top three players in the world in my opinion.”
It gave Norway a second 2-1 win at Euro 2025 after being outshined for much of the game. Norway had opened with a come-from-behind win over host Switzerland which had dominated the first half.
“This result was brutal after the performance,” Saloranta said in translated comments. “We really should have won this match.”
Norway sits top
Norway now sits atop Group A with six points and Finland is on three, from its opening-day 1-0 win over Iceland.
Norway will go to the quarterfinals as Group A winner if Iceland does not beat host Switzerland in the later game Sunday.
“It’s the quality of a good team that we find a way to win,” Norway coach Gemma Grainger said, noting her side could have been three goals ahead before Finland stepped up.
Finland’s fightback
Norway led in the third minute when Graham Hansen had forced an own-goal from Finland defender Eva Nyström after excellent play on the right wing.
Oona Sevenius deservedly leveled for Finland in the 32nd, showing fine balance to direct a rising left-foot shot from 16 yards (meters). Norway was again robbed of the ball in its own half by effective pressing.
For all its tidy play, Finland was lucky not to go two goals down. Norway struck the crossbar and a post from back-to-back corners, then Hegerberg was denied by goalkeeper Anna Koivunen’s brave blocking save.
Finland dominated play midway through the second half and forced Norway goalkeeper Cecilie Fiskerstrand into diving saves from shots by Katariina Kosola and Eveliina Sumannen, whose effort was tipped on to a post.
Next games
Norway finishes its group-stage program against Iceland on Thursday, when Finland plays host Switzerland
The eventual group winner will go to Geneva on July 16 to play the first quarterfinal against the runner-up in Spain’s Group B.
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