Hundreds of Swedish football fans travelled to Manchester to cheer on their team Hammarby, who hail from the Sodermalm district in Stockholm, against Manchester City in the Women's Champions League. They were greeted with an electric atmosphere at the Joie Stadium.

Hammarby are widely known within the women's game for their large and vociferous fanbase. More than 350 Hammarby fans impressed their Catalan hosts last week when they witnessed a 9-0 thrashing by Barcelona. As their players emerged on to the pitch, the Swedish fans held up green-and-white flags and drowned out their Spanish hosts.

Similarly colourful scenes were expected for Hammarby's game in Manchester on Tuesday (kick-off 20:00 GMT), with about 400 away fans cheering on their team. Fan Anna Persson travelled to Manchester with her daughter Alexandra Nyreröd, both proudly wearing Hammarby scarves.

“As her mum I’ve taken her to games since she was a baby. The club means a lot to us and my family. In Sweden no club has as many fans as this. We’d love them to win tonight, but we’ll support them no matter what,” Anna Persson said.

Alexandra added, “It’s like a family - it means everything to us. Everyone is included - no matter where you’re from, it doesn’t matter who you are, you’re always welcome to the Hammarby family. This is bigger than football, it’s about supporting women and the women’s game.”

Gittan Norder, a Hammarby fan since she was 15, said, “To see this support grow over the years, it’s so inspiring to be part of this community.”

Fellow fan Simon Sandstrom said, “It’s about the atmosphere we create. It’s not about the amount of people. It started with my daughter - and she wasn’t happy with how little support the team had, so I thought I’ve got to change this.”

Zacharias Nilsson, 25, also expressed his passion for the club. “It means everything to me to be a Hammarby fan. It’s my first time in Manchester. The social aspect is the best part but also seeing what we do for the team is also amazing. We are making a difference in women’s football and that’s what matters to us,” he said.

Gareth Taylor's side remain perfect in the Champions League but were made to work hard for the three points against the Swedes. Manchester City struggled to impress in a hard-fought 2-0 win over Hammarby but made it nine points from nine thanks to second-half goals from Laura Blindkilde Brown and Aoba Fujino.

Domination and a Close Shave

The hosts made hard work of a dire first half but came flying out of the blocks after the break and scored within minutes of the restart. Bunny Shaw fired in a low ball from the left for Blindkilde Brown to side-foot home for the opener.

City looked set to run away with the game after going ahead but once again toiled. Shaw did have the ball in the back of the net only to see her effort correctly ruled out for offside. Hammarby then created a scare when Thea Sorbo's powerful effort had to be tipped over the crossbar by goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita.

Instead it was left to Fujino to finish off the visitors with 10 minutes to go. Leila Ouahabi sent in a cross from the left for a stooping Fujino to head home and complete the victory.

Aoba Fujino: The Decisive Touch

Fujino’s goal was the decisive moment in a game where Manchester City’s dominance was challenged by the unwavering support of the Hammarby fans. Under the lights at the Joie Stadium, competing against an incredibly vocal away end, Manchester City ensured their impressive start to the campaign continued by grinding out a win against Hammarby.

It wasn’t a smooth-sailing victory by any means. But they dug deep to gain three more points in the Europe and continue their momentum ahead of a crucial weekend clash against defending Women’s Super League champions, Chelsea.

A Slow Start and a Strong Finish

The hosts dominated the ball for the majority of the first half, but they spent the early stages of the game being far too passive and created very little.

The best chance of the opening 45 minutes actually fell to Hammarby who were largely non-existent as an attacking force. A cross into the box wasn’t properly cleared by the home side and former City midfielder Julie Blakstad ran onto the loose ball. She couldn’t pull off a shot under pressure but the ball fell to Asato Miyagawa whose effort from close range went over the bar.

Coupled with the relentless support from the vocal away end, that effort may have given the visitors some renewed confidence going into the break. However, any momentum for Hammarby was ultimately short-lived as City broke the stalemate just two minutes into the second half.

It was a first Champions League goal for 21-year-old Laura Blindkilde Brown who met Mary Fowler’s cross in the box and stroked the ball into the far corner. From that point on, the hosts were in control. The decisive moment came after a short period of pressure from the visitors. Aoba Fujino, who until that point had done everything but score for her team, topped off an impressive performance with her second goal for the club. She met Alanna Kennedy’s cross from the left, ducking low to power a header into the Hammarby goal. It was the 20-year-old’s final touch of the game as she was substituted shortly after, along with her fellow goalscorer.

City sit top of their group in the Champions League and are in first place in the WSL table. They are yet to lose a game this season. Tonight’s victory showed that they can grind out important wins and have the talent in their squad to create chances and score goals when some of their bigger players aren’t firing them in.

Gareth Taylor will be keen to continue tempering expectations but, if tonight is anything to go by, it looks as if his team could go all the way in the competition this season.

A Loud and Passionate Away Support

Hammarby supporters are known as Bajen and they are renowned for their colourful tifos and well-choreographed chants.

A Facebook post from a Bajen appears to show that City have allowed them to bring their drum to the stadium this evening – allegedly Benefica did not allow them to do so in the qualifiers. The post by Harold Cardenas also says that City bumped up the away team’s ticket allocation from 400 to 700, after the mandatory 5 per cent share immediately sold out.

Videos posted on X show the fans making their voices heard around the city in the build-up to the game this afternoon – it is going to be a loud one.

City will be without Vivianne Miedema again after she had another operation on her troublesome left knee last month. Hammarby have a reputation for vibrant travelling support and Taylor said: “I think it’s a good thing.”We had a good experience in the Etihad Stadium on Friday night against Tottenham (in the Women’s Super League when they won 4-0), where we were able to go to a wider audience.”We love playing at the Joie Stadium and, if that away support is good and noisy then that’s great, it makes for a better atmosphere.”

The Blues go into the match on the back of a 4-0 thrashing of Spurs at the weekend to remain top of the WSL and will be full of confidence against the Swedish side.

City are on a roll right now and I just don’t see the Swedes stopping the Blues. I’m going for a comfortable but not excessive win.

City 3-0 Hammarby