Zlatan Ibrahimovic offered a few words of support for the teenage defender Smilla Holmberg after his failure during the Thursday penalty shootout put an end to the Swedish campaign of Euro 2025 in the quarter -final after an amazing defeat by England.
Sweden was beaten 3-2 in penalties after Holmberg, 18, drew its efforts at the top of the bar in an incredible shooting that featured 14 players having kicked.
Holmberg melted into tears after her failure as she turned to her crest teammates, but the Swedish hero Ibrahimovic stretched out to offer a little comfort.
“It was a sad girl that I was holding in my arms about an hour after the match,” Holmberg’s father said on Friday.
“She is strong and she received a lot of support from the team, supporters, friends and parents, she even received an SMS from Zlatan here this morning.”
Sweden’s record scorer for the male team is the owner of the Holmberg Stockholm Club Hammarby and the 43-year-old sent a message to the young defender to tell him to take the next penalty, and the next one, and to continue to believe in himself.
“The most important thing is that nobody defines a career by these shortcomings; in fact, it is the opposite, you must grow in these situations,” said Persson.
Discover Thursday’s match report with Flashscore.
(Tagstotranslate) Football (T) Euro Women (T) Smilla Holmberg (T) Zlatan Ibrahimovic (T) Hammarby W (T) Sweden W (T) Sweden (T) Global