Norway 2-1 Finland highlights: Caroline Graham Hansen magic takes Norway into Women's EURO 2025 quarter-finals

Caroline Graham Hansen's late winner secured Norway a UEFA Women's EURO 2025 quarter-final place as Group A winners as they defeated Finland 2-1.

The Barcelona winger had produced the cross from which her side initially led via an own goal, before Oona Sevenius' equaliser for a team who threatened for long spells to produce their second triumph of these finals themselves.

Switzerland's 2-0 victory in the late match against Iceland confirmed Norway's progress with a game to spare to the Geneva quarter-final on 16 July against the Group B runners-up. Finland, meanwhile, must beat hosts Switzerland in that city on Thursday to join Norway in the last eight.

What happened?

Both teams made one change from Sunday with Finland bringing in Sevenius for Sanni Franssi and Mathilde Harviken taking over from Maren Mjelde in the Norway defence. In their comeback to beat Switzerland 2-1 in Basel, Norway's winner had come from an own goal after a Graham Hansen centre, and the opener came the same way in Sion today after just three minutes as the Barcelona winger cut in on the right and her ball deflected in off Eva Nyström with Frida Maanum lurking.

Finland responded well to going behind, Linda Sällström testing Norway goalkeeper Cecilie Fiskerstrand, but were nearly 2-0 down when Vilde Bøe Risa's curling cross was headed on to the underside of the crossbar by Ingrid Engen. The ball went behind for a corner taken by Bøe Risa, which was whipped in and had to be tipped on to the far post by Anna Koivunen, who soon after denied Ada Hegerberg.

However, Finland were level just past the half hour when Oona Siren's first-time pass was met with a lofted finish by Sevenius. The goalscorer shot not far past the post late in the first period while just before the hour mark Finland's Matchday 1 scorer against Iceland, Katariina Kosola, forced a save from Fiskerstrand.

The pressure continued and in the 63rd minute Eveliina Summanen let fly and hit the post. It was all Finland but with ten minutes to go Norway nearly went back ahead with a piece of Guro Reiten magic as she produced a bicycle kick that Koivunen did well to tip over. Moments later a Signe Gaupset cutback came to Graham Hansen, who with the goal at her mercy blazed over.

Not long afterwards, though, Graham Hansen secured the points with a trademark piece of magic. On the right of the box, the winger shuffled back and forth to create space and spun the ball towards the far post, off which it deflected in.

Caroline Graham Hansen makes it 2-1 for Norway against FinlandGetty Images

Player of the Match: Caroline Graham Hansen (Norway)

"She was superior in 1v1 situations in her opponents' half. Even though the defender knows what she is going to do, she has such quick feet and an excellent two-footed dribbling ability to get past them. Every time she enters the penalty area, it is a dangerous situation. Today she set up the first goal and scored the second herself. She shows that she can perform when it matters in the big matches. Impressive!"

UEFA Technical Observer panel

Reaction

Gemma Grainger, Norway coach: "It feels great. You want to win football matches and three points. I couldn't be prouder of the team and the performance they put in together."

Caroline Graham Hansen, Player of the Match: "It’s an honour and I'm very happy that we won and I could contribute to help the team winning a tough match. Credit to Finland for playing that well and making it difficult. Winning is a big relief."

Signe Gaupset, Norway forward: "It was really great to get that much playing time and to come on at half-time. I was a bit shocked, but I just thought I’ve got to go out there, enjoy myself and have fun. It was a lot of fun – and with the win on top of that, I can’t really complain."

Marko Saloranta, Finland coach: "We played very well against very good opponents. I feel we should have got something out of this game; the result just does not feel fair, but all credit to Norway, of course.

“We played well in the opener against Iceland and we played even better tonight, even if we lost. This will give us more confidence and, if we play like this, we have every chance of beating Switzerland. Now we will rest a little bit and begin to prepare for that game tomorrow.”

Linda Sällström, Finland captain: "I am so proud of the team and how we played today but, at the same time, very disappointed because we lost. We had chances to score more than once, and I guess we just need to be more clinical. Having said that, Norway sure also had quite a lot of chances. But still, I am disappointed with the result."

Key stats

• Norway are through from the group stage for the first tine since reaching the 2013 final.
• This is the first time Norway have won their first two games at a Women's EURO final tournament.
• Graham Hansen got her 52nd Norway goal on her 118th cap, and Finland are the 25th different nation she has scored against.
• Sevenius at 21 years and 69 days is Finland's second youngest Women's EURO finals goalscorer, 17 days older than Sällström in the 2009 quarter-final against England.

Reporters' views

Sara Nilssen Kilen, Norway reporter
An important win for Norway in a match that easily could have gone the other way. Gemma Grainger’s side created several chances in the first half but struggled to be clinical in the final third. Finland gave them a tough contest, showing plenty of physicality and posing threats on the counter. In the end, Norway did enough to take all three points, winning their first two group games for the first time ever to put themselves in a strong position ahead of the group finale.

Mikael Erävuori, Finland reporter
Finland were so close to a positive result but ultimately got nothing, having played their best football this year before the break, although Norway could have been 2-0 or even 3-0 ahead before the equaliser. The second half was more difficult for Finland, even if they had their chances, and they will be disappointed with both Norway goals. They're by no means out of these finals yet.

Fantasy star performers

Caroline Graham Hansen (Norway) – 13 points
Oona Siren (Finland) – 7
Oona Sevenius (Finland) – 6

Line-ups

Norway: Fiskerstrand; Bjelde, Harviken, T Hansen, Bratberg Lund; Bøe Risa (Naalsud 46), Graham Hansen (Ildhusøy 87), Engen; Maanum (Gaupset 46), Hegerberg (Sævik 90+2), Reiten

Finland: Koivunen; E. Koivisto (Lehtola 72), Kuikka, Nyström, Tynnilä (Hartikainen 87), Kosola; Öling (Franssi 61), O. Siren, Summanen, Sevenius (Ahtinen 87); Sällström (Rantala 72)