There could have been a few more goal points for Reiten as Norway’s attacking stars crushed the opposition.

Several times at the start, the ball was thrown away by the referee because it was too soft. Once Reiten himself came out to the sideline and threw one of his balls.

– There are many balls with little air. Not something to hang on to, but kind of boring when there’s bladders out there at the European Championships, he told NTB.

He provided the assist on Julie Blakstad’s goal that broke Norway’s long-running goal drought in the European Championship play-offs, and he set up his team-mates for chance after chance. He even missed a few chances before he corrected the result with a free kick in the far corner.

Trust

– I discussed with Caro (Graham Hansen) about who should take it. He said he trusted my left foot, and then I myself should trust him too, he said.

– Actually, I wanted it in the corner, but the goalkeeper stood in the middle of the goal and could not achieve anything. Then I thought it didn’t have to be good. I’m a bit smarter than the goalkeeper there.

He wasn’t happy with the setback a few minutes earlier.

– The way we came out in the second half, we could never start again. We’ve talked about getting sharpened in fixed situations, but it still happens again. There are some things that need to be fixed, he said.

Something completely different

Reiten was pleased that it was a good offensive play, but thought the count was too bad.

– We created quite a bit and should have scored a few more goals, but it was a win in the opener. “The previous European Championships with zero goals and only defeats have haunted us for a long time, so it’s good to start this way,” said the Chelsea player.

– Now we will enjoy the evening, then we begin preparations to meet England. It will be something completely different.