Not what the doctor ordered for Benjamin Nygren and his Sweden side at the World Cup.
It began so well for the Celtic midfielder, who started Sweden’s 5-1 win over Tunisia in their opening World Cup game, but on Saturday, they got a taste of their own medicine.
Graham Potter’s side were thrashed 5-1 by the Netherlands, as their hopes of staying at this summer’s World Cup will now go to the final game, and a meeting with Daizen Maeda’s Japan.
Nygren played just under an hour against the Dutch, going off when the score was 4-0, with his replacement, Anthony Elanga, pulling a goal back for Sweden minutes later.
That was the only ray of sunshine for those in yellow, as the Swedish media even questioned why Nygren started in the first place.
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The story of Benjamin Nygren’s Celtic career continues with Sweden
Nygren was Celtic’s top-scorer during the recent campaign, but despite finding the back of the net for fun, one thing was always labelled at him: hardly getting involved in the game.
Swedish outlet Svenskafans didn’t hold back on the 21-goal man’s display, and stated that he was ‘too bad’ during his 56 minutes on the pitch.
They also felt that it was ‘wrong’ that he started ahead of Elanga, who would score and make an impact from the bench.
Svenskafans stated: ‘Took Anthony Elanga’s place in the starting eleven. It was wrong with hindsight. Did he ever have the ball? I don’t remember a single one, except for the free kick he took. It was just too bad.’
That theme was the same as Swedish outlet Fotbollskanalen, who also questioned what Nygren provided with the ball.
In the first half, the Celtic attacker whipped in a brilliant free-kick, and it was headed home by former Hoops man Gustaf Lagerbielke.
But the goal was ruled offside, as Fotbollskanalen felt it was the only time Nygren contributed during the game in an attacking sense.
Fotbollskanalen stated: ‘Hit a great free kick for Sweden’s offside goal, but otherwise he didn’t contribute as much offensively as, for example, Ayari.’
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