[ad_1]
From: Michael Wagner, Petra Thorén
Published:
Updated:
PARIS. Acclaimed in quantities.
But after 2-4 against France, Dejan Kulusevski was less satisfied with his last free kick of the match.
– A mistake, but I will make a billion mistakes, he says.
After the 2-1 win against Croatia on Friends, Dejan Kulusevski received praise from all sides after a very good effort and the first goal of the national team for the Juventus star.
Football lovers had high hopes before the final of the League of Nations against France.
But then things got slower at the Stade de France. Kulusevski did not reach the passes or the lauded collaboration with Emil Forsberg.
– I always want to do better. But given the conditions, I couldn’t have done anything different than what I did. I gave everything I had, he says later.
At the end of Sweden’s match in Paris, Portugal in Split had beaten Croatia at the same time and that meant that a draw for Sweden against France would have been enough to save Blågult in Division A of the Nations League.
Trailing 2-3, and just seconds to play, Sweden landed a free kick in the offensive half. Goalkeeper Robin Olsen ran into the offensive penalty area to score the equalizer.
“It was a mistake”
But Kulusevski’s free kick post was a real flop, he got stuck early and low on the French who were then able to counter 4-2 on an empty net.
– In that situation, you have to take some height, play with a pretty good margin when you have even raised Robin Olsen. Then you have to flip it. You may not need to hit the free kick as hard. It needs to be toned down there, says Kim Källström at CMore.
Dejan Kulusevski:
– Such free kicks happen in soccer. It was a mistake. I whipped it too short and there is nothing else. I will make another billion mistakes in my life.
Photo: JOEL MARKLUND / BILDBYRÅN
His analysis of the match:
– There were two tired teams, understandably, we played every other day. It is difficult to recharge. We should have done better after Claesson’s goal, but then we lost the ball in some unnecessary situations that France used incredibly well.
– We scored a goal quite late. If my free kick had been better, we could have crossed the game too, says Dejan Kulusevski.
“Lack of energy”
Kim Källström summed up the 20-year-old’s match at CMore:
– It disappeared a bit, sadly. Lack of energy, a bit of joy. The French are good at defending, closing surfaces. Nor did he receive the help he received in other games.
– It’s a good pass for Pierre Bengtsson in reduction, but the general feeling is that it was too much technical error that you are not used to seeing.
Published:
READ ON
Sportbladet – Allsvenskan
Subscribe to our newsletter on the Allsvenskan: chronicles, reports, interviews, reviews and rankings.
