Celtic’s Benjamin Nygren will be going to the World Cup.
Several months ago, when Jon Dahl Tomasson was in charge of Sweden, you never would have guessed it because they finished bottom of their World Cup qualifying group.
But Sweden then sacked Dahl Tomasson in October and brought in Graham Potter, who had a World Cup lifeline via the play-offs, and they have taken it with both hands following a stunning win over Poland on Tuesday night.
Nygren played a huge part, with Celtic’s top scorer assisting none other than Gustaf Lagerbielke for Sweden’s second goal of their 3-2 win, after also being the provider for their win over Ukraine in the play-off semi-finals.
Nonetheless, this is how the Swedish media reacted to it all, as Celtic have another one of their names heading to this summer’s World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the United States of America, Mexico and Canada.
Are Celtic fans too harsh towards Benjamin Nygren?
Another goal and assist on the charts
Benjamin Nygren plays a key role as Sweden qualify for 2026 World Cup by beating Poland
Swedish outlet Fotbollskanalen noted Nygren’s free-kick, which put Sweden 2-1 ahead, as former Hoops man Lagerbielke did the rest.
‘Perfectly struck free kick straight at Lagerbielke’s head at 2-1,’ wrote the Swedish outlet. ‘Otherwise, had difficulty threatening the opponents and mixed and gave in the passing game.’
Another outlet, Svenskafans, thinks Nygren has ‘cemented his place in the Swedish squad’ after only breaking through recently.
They provided Nygren with a ‘2’ rating, which is a pass mark, with the highest rating being ‘5’, which is dubbed ‘World Class.’
‘Looked very eager to play,’ wrote Svenskafans. ‘A fantastic free kick that made it 2-1. I think he has cemented his place in the Swedish squad now after this collection. Was impressed by his ball feel.’
Added to that, the Swedish version of Flash Score rated Nygren’s performance at 6.8, while FotMob handed him an impressive ‘7.6’.
Fotbolldirekt noted how Lagerbielke, who has gone from strength to strength since leaving Celtic, ‘took leadership’ at 1-1 and headed his nation ahead ‘under pressure’ from Nygren’s free-kick.
What did Graham Potter and Nygren say post-match?
Potter has been linked with the Celtic job, but that isn’t going to happen now, given that he has a World Cup to prepare for.
The Englishman, in such a short space of time, has turned around Sweden’s ship, and Nygren has been used a lot more under his stewardship.
| Nygren’s games for Sweden | Starts | Off the bench | Goals | Assists |
| 9 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
As you can expect, the post-match scenes were full of celebrations, as Potter found it difficult to explain what had just happened.
“It was like it felt outside my body,” Potter told Swedish broadcaster SVT. “A bit like, ‘What’s happening?’ and ‘what am I doing here?'”
Added to that, Nygren took to Instagram and simply wrote: ‘We did it’, as he will now play on world football’s biggest stage.
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