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GOOD FRIENDS: Alexander Sørloth and Stefan Johansen often spend time together during national team meetings. Here after her arrival in the Bulgarian Sofia in 2018. Photo: Bjørn S. Delebekk / VG
National team captain Stefan Johansen (29) had a “long talk” with Alexander Sørloth (24) after the captain’s team stated in a press release that the forward had gone “too far” during the fight with Lars Lagerbäck (72).
In this interview with VG, Johansen speaks for the first time about the noise that characterized the national team after the 1-2 loss to Serbia, and the turbulent weather that followed the revelations from VG about the strong disputes between Sørloth and Lagerbäck at the player’s hotel.
As captain, Johansen was heavily involved in the conflict. He attended a reconciliation meeting between the coaching team and Sørloth on the same night as the much-discussed dispute, and has been in dialogue with Sørloth, the coaching team and media manager Svein Graff after the case came to light. in VG.
The day after the explosive exchange between Sørloth and Lagerbäck became known, the Norwegian Football Association (NFF) released a statement on behalf of the captain’s team, consisting of Johansen, Omar Elabdellaoui and Joshua King.
“It should be high under the roof, but in this case the player went too far and we are happy that he apologized for his behavior towards the group of players and the supporting apparatus,” the team captain said in the press release.
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The next day, Johansen and Sørloth had a long conversation on the phone. The two players on the national team have a good relationship with each other and often play cards together during their encounters with Norway.
– There was never any criticism of Alex, I have told Alex too. Maybe that’s what I felt went completely wrong. I had a long talk with him and told him that there was no personal attack against him, although that is how it turned out. He said he understood that that was not the intention. This is how it can be sometimes, Johansen tells VG and continues:
– There are many who have told me that it seemed like a personal attack on Alex, but since we have spoken internally and such, I think Alex understands that it was not like that. You should know where you have the group of players, where you are, and how the farthest path is. I can only say that everything is “fine” between Alex, Lars, “Perry” and the group of players. There is no division.
– I never experienced anything like this before
Johansen believes that the conflict between Sørloth and Lagerbäck “was not as bad as the media portrayed it,” but acknowledges that there was occasionally a “heated atmosphere.”
– I’ve been in fights many, many, many times, but it has never come out. Then it quickly gets windier than it should be, says Johansen.
He does not want to discuss the disputes themselves in detail and emphasizes that the parties have left the conflict behind, but is concerned with highlighting what irritates him the most:
– The main problem is that there are leaks. Is very annoying.
– I think the person in question is extremely unprofessional, be it players, support staff or who they are. There are some who leak, and I think that is disloyal and unprofessional towards an acting group. I’ve never experienced anything like this before, and that’s the most disappointing thing, says Johansen clearly stated.
– Someone who has to see himself in the mirror
– How will it affect the next collection?
– It will probably be resolved internally. Lars and the coaching staff may have something to say, but we as a group of players will get together and address it. There are those who must see themselves in the mirror. This is how it is. We will try to fix it one way or another.
-That is not the main focus, of course, because we can still win the Nations League and we have left the conflict behind, but the leaks are something that we have to address internally, emphasizes the captain.
– How do you assess the confidence in Lars Lagerbäck in the group of players?
– Everything is cut now. It’s how I see it now, no problem. Everything is left behind. It’s good.
Johansen is not enrolled in the Premier League squad for Fulham until January, and has recently had a bad back, but he remains part of the Norway squad facing Israel, Romania and Austria.
When asked if he is with the majority as a captain or a soccer player, he responds:
– I said I can be with both of you. As captain, of course, what happened last time was not ideal, that is clear, but I think we have managed it quite well.
