Chelsea captain Magda Eriksson has admitted that she is suffering with her Norwegian club teammates following the nation’s 8-0 defeat to England in Brighton on Monday evening.
Both Maren Mjelde and Guro Reiten started the match for Martin Sjögren’s side. Hopes were high amongst the Norwegian camp but the occasion quickly turned sour as England showed real class in their attacking play.
Swedish defender Eriksson spoke to the media ahead of her side’s second UEFA Women’s EURO group match against Switzerland this evening and she expressed her sadness for club teammates Mjelde and Reiten.
“I don’t want to talk too much about other games of course but it’s football, it can happen,” Eriksson said when speaking about the Norway result.
“Norway started pretty strong and then a penalty comes out of nowhere and the game turns, they pay the price and the suffering builds. There’s also the impact of the crowd and tactical matters so results like that can happen in football. If Norway and England played each other 10 times, not every game would finish 8-0, Norway could just as easily win a match, there were a lot of coincidences.
“I am incredibly sad for my Norwegian teammates but I know that they will be super excited and ready for their next match to take revenge.”
Prior to her move to Chelsea in 2017, Eriksson worked with Norwegian head coach Sjögren at Linköping. The defender went on to praise her former boss whilst backing him to handle the pressure.
She said “Martin is a great football coach, I still think he’s one of the best football coaches I’ve had so I am suffering with him. He’s also a great person so I suffer with him the same way that I suffer with my teammates.
“It’s sad to see them having a tough time out there because I know they’re great. Martin’s a great coach too and I am sure that he can handle the situation and bounce back.”
Eriksson and Sweden’s second UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 group match against Switzerland kicks-off at 5pm.
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