AIK was on safe ground before the last round and has basically already secured a new Allsvenskan contract. The black and yellow had three points down to BP in the negative qualifying spot, also with a lead of plus eight in goal difference.
“Gnaget” thus only needed to take at least one point when fifth-placed IFK Värnamo visited Friends Arena to guarantee continued Allsvenskan play. In case of a big loss, they had to rely on the results in BP-Häcken and Varberg-IFK Göteborg, which were played at the same time.
AIK went out early and showed that they did everything to erase the microscopic risk of qualifying games and it was attacking ace Ioannis Pittas who showed great form.
After 17 minutes, Pitt’s Jonathan Rasheed rounded off the away goal before scoring to make it 1-0. Two minutes later, he carefully stayed in front of the penalty area as he extended the home lead.
But Pittas wasn’t done there and after half an hour of play he was in front again when he scored his and AIK’s third goal in the first half hour.
The striker received a pass from Bersant Celina and pushed off from outside the penalty area. The shot fell over a chanceless Rasheed in the Värnamo goal.
– I think today is a wonderful day. I have scored three goals, but we will continue. It feels so good right now, I hope I get the chance to score a fourth goal in the second half, I’m so happy, Pittas told Discovery+ at halftime.
Ten minutes into the second half, the visitors got a ticket into the match when Gustav Engvall stayed in front and angled in the reduction.
But there was never more nerve than that and AIK was finally able to guard their lead and win 3-1.
The team thus puts an end to a difficult season that has been characterized by great upheaval on several fronts. Now sporting director Thomas Berntsen gets plenty of time to prepare the team for the upcoming season.
Starting XI:
AIK: Nordfeldt – Thychosen, Tiedemann Hansen, Papagiannopoulos, Otieno – Modesto, Celina, Salétros, Ayari – Faraj, Pittas.
IFK Värnamo: Rasheed – Larsson – Eriksson, Grozdanic, Bergh – Ademi, Johansson, Näsström, Engvall – Zeljkovic, Thern.
See the table below.
