Sirius – Malmoe

The leader of the Swedish championship will be back on the winning track.

For Sirius, the moment of truth has arrived. Let us recall that the club from Uppsala had not made any waves in Swedish football for a long time. Ten years ago it rose from the second-tier division and since then bore the burden of being a mid-table Allsvenskan club. Last year something changed significantly in the squad of Andreas Engelmark. After the autumn defeat in Stockholm to Djurgarden, conceding eight goals, Sirius kicked into turbo mode and began to take on all the strongest Allsvenskan clubs. By mid-August of this year the club from Uppsala had played twenty league matches, winning almost all of them and losing none. The first noticeable crisis in the last ten months has arrived for Sirius. Losing at home to the reigning champions 3-4, the team then was crushed by Hacken 0-3. Unfortunately for Engelmark's players and his coaching staff, in these rounds their main rival, Hammarby, recorded wins. Undoubtedly, a six-point lead over the capital club is a substantial cushion that's hard to overturn. The other thing is that two weeks ago the lead was twice as large and seemed completely insurmountable. Now the psychological edge lies with the chasing team, and Sirius must find the strength to return to the winning path. Fortunately, the upcoming opponent is one you don't need to hype yourself up for. Malmo is not having the best of times, but is the most decorated club in Sweden, having won Allsvenskan four times since 2020. After a failure in the previous season the team changed its head coach, but the changes proved ineffective and again changed the man in charge. Undoubtedly, in such a carousel everyone thinks about football, but it often goes to the back burner. Malmo are currently the eighth-placed team in the league table with little prospect of reaching European competition places. In the last round the Sky Blues at home lost to Djurgarden 0-3, underscoring once again that this season is a lost cause for them. Of course, the visitors will try to pick up points in Uppsala, but their high-profile name will help Sirius regain their composure after two defeats and secure the victory.