Sweden vs Belgium LIVE: Result and reaction as Sweden dramatically set up semi-final against England
Reaction as last-gasp Linda Sembrant goal books Sweden a semi-final against England on Tuesday
Defender Linda Sembrant fired a stoppage-time winner to give Sweden a 1-0 win over Belgium and set up a Euro 2022 semi-final against hosts England next Tuesday.
The Swedes kept Belgium pinned back for most of the first half and should have taken the lead when Stina Blackstenius slotted the ball home in the 25th minute. However, a VAR review showed that she was just offside when Kosovare Asllani passed her the ball and the goal was chalked off.
The second half was almost identical with the Swedes pouring forward and the Belgium defence standing resolute, and goalkeeper Nicky Evrard pulled off a brilliant reflex save to deny Blackstenius in the 73rd minute.
The game looked to be heading for extra time when the Swedes won a corner in the second minute of second-half stoppage time, and Sembrant reacted quickest to rifle the ball home to send the Swedes through to the last four.
Follow all the reaction from the Euro 2022 quarter-final as Sweden join England and Germany in the next round:
Rolfö on Sweden’s ‘favourites’ tag
Sweden forward Fridolina Rolfö believes that her team can go far in Euro 2022 and possibly win the whole competition after they grew into the group stages to finish top of Group C.
They are the heavy favourites to win tonight’s quarter-final but Rolfö does not think that brings any added pressure to the team.
“[Being favourites is] something we have to learn how to handle.” she said, “We have come here saying that we want to go a long way and we need to show that too.
“We are expected to win this match; now we have to live up to that. We want to fight for the medals so we have to win this match and demonstrate what we can do.”
Early team news for Sweden
Sweden defenders Hanna Glas and Emma Kullberg are doubts for tonight’s Euro 2022 quarter-final against Belgium after both players tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.
Veteran midfielder Caroline Seger, Sweden’s most-capped player, has been out with a heel injury, but could return for Friday’s game and Jonna Andersson missed Thursday’s training session with mild cold symptoms.
Sweden vs Belgium
Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of the third quarter-final from the Women’s European Championship as Sweden take on Belgium.
The match gets underway at 8pm at Leight Sports Village with Sweden the favourites to progress to the next round. Belgium have already played a vital game in this tournament though. They had to defeat Italy on the final matchday of the group stages to make it this far and will be prepared to throw everything at the Swedes this evening.
A semi-final place awaits the winner who will face Sarina Wiegman’s England on Tuesday after they progress through their own last-eight fixture with a 2-1 victory over Spain.
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