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Nordic Glory 11: Teemu Pukki introduces himself as HJK expose a naive Schalke side in Finland
juhavaltteri-salminen |

July 7, 2020

In this series, Finnish football journalist Juhavaltteri Salminen recalls occasions on which Nordic teams proved to be a match – and sometimes more than that – for some of the most famous clubs in Europe. In August 2011, a star was born in Helsinki…

 

Europa League 2011/12: HJK 2–0 Schalke 04 (3–6 on aggregate)

 

"Anybody but Schalke."

Kari Haapiainen, the CEO of Finnish champions HJK, had only one wish ahead of the Europa League play-off round draw. The Finns were one step away from a second ever European group stage appearance, but at this stage, it was always going to get tough. A very good performance was not going to be enough. HJK also needed a little luck, both in the draw and on the pitch.

The other options were Braga, Standard Liège, AEK Athens, Rennes and Austria Wien. Whatever the result, HJK would still go into the tie as clear underdogs, but in Haapiainen's view, they could live with any other opponent.

HJK had good reason to believe in themselves too. The 23-time Finnish champions were undoubtedly the biggest club in their country and had even reached the Champions League group stage as the first and, to this day, only Finnish team ever in 1998–99.

And it was not just about proud history. In August 2011, the Helsinki side were in the middle of a period of what, even for all their past glories, represented unprecedented dominance.

It had not always been that way. HJK did not win the title once between 2004 and 2008. That was not close to being good enough. HJK needed to take two steps forward, but it began with taking one back.

In late 2007, very near the end of what had been another disappointing season, a familiar face walked into the HJK office. His place forever cemented in HJK's rich history, Antti Muurinen was the very man who had led "Klubi" (The Club) to that Champions League group stage.

But Muurinen was not there to catch up with old friends and exchange some war stories. The focus was on the future, not the past. He was the club's new boss, same as the old boss.

The experienced coach was a controversial character. Kind, soft-spoken and a true gentleman, reaching the Champions League was an achievement that spoke for itself. Yet there was an aura of failure around Muurinen, perhaps undeservedly so. After leaving HJK in 1999, Muurinen had spent five years managing the Finnish national team.

Finnish football in the early 2000s was a land of opportunity. Muurinen could enlist the services of the likes of Antti Niemi, Sami Hyypiä, Teemu Tainio, Jari Litmanen and Mikael Forssell, all in their prime years. Even the supporting cast consisted of players from good European leagues. Yet, with all this talent at his disposal, Muurinen failed to guide Finland to a first ever major tournament and eventually got the sack in 2005.

Muurinen spent almost two seasons coaching fellow Finnish top-flight side FC Lahti after that, but a second spell at HJK was truly a chance to revujenate his career. He was taking over the biggest club in the country, and with all those resources, surely it would not be a big ask to end the period of underachievement and make himself look like the hero. A dream job for any coach.

Not that Muurinen was out for personal glory. A humble and modest man, he would never boast about his successes. He let his football do the talking. And why not, because people loved his football, if not always his results. Muurinen always wanted to entertain, even if a touch of pragmatism here and there might have carried his great Finland side over the line.

It took another hit and miss season in 2008, but in 2009, the league trophy finally returned to the capital. In 2010, HJK wrapped another title with three games to spare. And in the summer of 2011, they were absolutely flying in the league. Disposing of lesser sides for fun, HJK routinely put on a multi-goal show in the league and would eventually win it by a 24-point landslide. Finland was obviously conquered. The only way to improve from that was an exceptional European run.

But of course HJK drew the one team they did not want to. Schalke may only have finished 14th in the Bundesliga just months earlier, but they had also made it to the Champions League semi-finals and won the German Cup. How could HJK beat them when their Champions League qualification campaign had just been brought to an end by a much more modest opposition Dinamo Zagreb?

It is telling that when Schalke coach Ralf Ragnick decided to protect Raúl Gonzalez's ankles from the artificial turf at HJK's home stadium, he had the luxury of fielding Klaas-Jan Huntelaar instead. Huntelaar had scored a hat-trick against 1. FC Köln in the Bundesliga just days before.

HJK's team was fantastic by Finnish standards, featuring many of the Finnish league's best players, some up and coming future internationals, the experienced Aki Riihilahti and even the 40-year old Jari Litmanen, who was putting the finishing touches on his career. But they surely could not match Rangnick's exciting and youthful Schalke side, packed with gems like Benedikt Höwedes, Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Joel Matip and Julian Draxler. Although Muurinen disagreed.

"If we play our best game, we can get a 1–0, 2–0 or 3–1 result", he said in the pre-match press conference.

Against such good opposition, Muurinen had to resort to a more counter-attacking approach than usual. But the emphasis was still firmly on the attack, not on the counter. It proved to be just the right gameplan for a young Finnish starlet. For all the established talent on the pitch, it was a brand new star who stole all the attention on that August night.

A former teenage prodigy, Teemu Pukki had returned to Finland a year earlier to restart his career, having failed to make the grade as a teenager at Sevilla. Everybody could see he was talented, but nobody quite knew if he was good enough to cut it at the very highest level. He was quick, incisive and energetic and excelled in finding great scoring positions. But he also needed to many of them to actually score a goal. He was not yet clinical by any stretch of imagination.

Muurinen's plan worked perfectly for Pukki though. After HJK withstood some massive Schalke pressure in the opening minutes, the hosts got more room to play with. It did not take long before they regularly posed a serious threat to Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann, and Pukki was involved more often than not.

Even the finishing touch was with him on the night. On 18 minutes, HJK launched another quick transition on the right-hand side of the pitch. Pukki received the ball out wide on the halfway line, dashed forward some 30 metres, cut inside and launched an absolute rocket into the top corner – and with his weaker foot. It certainly promted many around Europe to google the goalscorer's name.

It had been coming too, because HJK had created a host of chances. And they went on to create many more as Schalke, for all their possession, failed to either mark the ever-running Pukki or cut HJK's supply lines to him. Early in the second half, Gambian international Dawda Bah again freed Pukki, who escaped the defenders' attention and just beat the offside. Another cool finish, this time into the bottom corner, and HJK were almost cruising.

The shellshocked Germans tried to reply with an away goal, but the damage was done. The naivety of their gameplan, and the excellence of Muurinen's, had cost them dearly.

Even in Gelsenkirchen, it may have been to close for comfort for Schalke. They eventually took a 6–1 home win, but the scoreline disguises the fact that Ragnick's side were facing elimination well into the night. That man Pukki struck again after 15 minutes between two Huntelaar goals. It was only 2–1 for Schalke at half-time, and that would have sent HJK through. Four second-half goals finally got the job done for the Germans. Huntelaar bagged another hat trick, two of which on what Muurinen thought were softly given penalties.

Nevertheless, the home win against Schalke set something of a gold standard. It perfectly encapsulated the spirit of what was probably the most dominant Finnish club team of all time. But the best was yet to come for both HJK and Pukki. It took another two years for HJK to realize their group stage dream in the Europa League, then already under the guidance of Mika Lehkosuo.

Pukki wasted little time after shocking Schalke. Before the end of the month, he already played for them, but failed to make a proper breakthrough in his 37 Bundesliga appearances. It took spells with Celtic and Bröndby before Pukki was ready for the big time at Carrow Road for Norwich City. By then, he had found the clinical touch that had failed him so often in his early twenties.

Sources: Yle, Helsingin Sanomat, Ilta-Sanomat, Iltalehti, 6-0, Uefa.com
 

Click the links below to read the rest of this series:

Nordic Glory 1: When Nottingham Forest spoiled Malmö's European Cup dream
Nordic Glory 2: Sven Goran Eriksson's IFK Göteborg shock "arrogant" German giants
Nordic Glory 3: All-conquering Liverpool suffer embarrassing defeat in freezing Helsinki
Nordic Glory 4: Swedish elation and Scottish disappointment in an unlikely European final
Nordic Glory 5: 'Miracle in Milan' as amateur Finnish side TPS shock Inter at the San Siro
Nordic Glory 6: One last hurrah for European greats IFK Göteborg at Manchester United's expense
Nordic Glory 7: Rosenborg humiliate AC Milan as Norwegian football emerges from darkness
Nordic Glory 8: "This is the f****** Champions League" – Stuart Baxter fumes as ref helps Barcelona
Nordic Glory 9: Chelsea come undone on a "farcical" polar night in Norway as Ruud Gullit fumes
Nordic Glory 10: Yet more Scandi struggles for Inter as Helsingborg gatecrash the Champions League
Nordic Glory 11: Teemu Pukki introduces himself as HJK expose a naive Schalke side in Finland

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