Svensson shoulders Swedish hopes

By Andreas Alf in Potsdam

Djurgården/Älvsjö's chances of overturning 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam's 2-0 advantage in the second leg of their UEFA Women's Cup final have been boosted by the return to fitness of the Swedish club's star player, Victoria Svensson.

Optimistic Swedes
The Sweden striker sat out last Sunday's first leg in Stockholm with a thigh injury but will lead the Djurgården/Älvsjö line in Saturday's decider at the Karl-Liebknecht-Stadion. "Victoria is extremely important for us on and off the pitch," said Djurgården/Älvsjö coach Mikael Söderman. "She gives the team a lot of self-confidence and with her starting we will be able to turn the tide. Nothing is decided yet."

Approach play
The Swedish champions lacked a cutting edge on home soil with Svensson and Sara Johansson - who again misses out with a muscle problem in her right leg - injured and Finland striker Laura Kalmari cup-tied having previously represented the holders Umeå IK this season in Europe. Söderman, however, saw enough in his side's approach play to suggest that goals from Conny Pohlers and Anja Mittag have not ended the tie with 90 minutes to play.

'Nothing to lose'
"The pressure is not on us anymore," he said. "We were favourites before the first leg and look what happened. Now the Germans are expected to win and we are the underdogs. We have nothing to lose but everything to gain - especially with Svensson back - and that makes our task a lot easier." Another person delighted to see Svensson return is Kristin Bengtsson, the veteran playmaker who failed to capitalise on four decent openings as an emergency striker last week. "With Victoria in the side we can definitely score at least twice," she said.

Svensson relaxed
Svensson, her country's Footballer of the Year in 1998 and 2003, was in typically relaxed mood at training on Friday. "We've been under a lot of pressure lately," she told uefa.com. "But I'm back and am used to handling it." The forward is also well used to German opposition, with Sweden having lost the final of both the 2001 UEFA European Women's Championship and the 2003 FIFA World Cup to Germany. Another defeat would be a bitter blow.

Tactical change?
Both sides struggled in midweek, Djurgården/Älvsjö drawing 1-1 with Hammarby IF and Potsdam bringing the curtain down on their Bundesliga season with a 4-3 loss to FC Bayern München. Coach Bernd Schröder rested seven players for that defeat and has no injury concerns - Sonja Fuss was declared fit after coming off in Sweden - for the concluding leg of Potsdam's first European final. A tactical change could be in the offing, though.

Schröder wary
"We will play a different game to the first leg," he said. "I'm even thinking about marking Svensson with two players as this tie is not over yet." Schröder is well aware that the UEFA Women's Cup is Potsdam's best chance to further furnish their trophy cabinet this term having seen 1. FFC Frankfurt wrest back the German title. The country's top two sides will also contest the German Cup final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin next weekend.

Full house
First, though, the Karl-Liebknecht will be thronging for the biggest match in Potsdam's history. "The best team will win," concluded Schröder, safe in the knowledge that his side could be in possession of an unassailable advantage.