Ljubljana. Only five Swedes have started a Champions League playoff in the past five years.
Now the hidden ice among the five is finally getting a chance in the national team.
– Of course it was a disappointment in itself when you were not selected, says Gabriel Gudmundsson – another player in the new generation about to take charge of the national team.
It’s not crowded with Swedes in the men’s Champions League (except when Malmö FF gets there).
Fewer Swedes started a playoff in the best club tournament ever.
Only five in the last five years in fact: national team great stars Victor Nelson Lindelof (Manchester United), Emil Forsberg (Leipzig) and Dejan Kulusevsky (Juventus), and this year, Anthony Ilanga with Manchester United and Gabriel Gudmundsson With Lille (Oscar Wendt jumped in two minutes for Monchengladbach against Manchester City last season).
– She was incredibly special. I remember sitting on the sofa on the TV listening to the Champions League anthem and watching the matches. I didn’t even have time to think about it. It went quickly and it was a good trip, Gudmundsson says when Sportbladet settled with the left-back during the national team meeting.
The 23-year-old made his first-team debut for Halmstad’s at Superettan 2016, the same season he was promoted to the team at Allsvenskan.
It was only one season for Gudmundsson and Halmstad at Allsvenskan and after another 1.5 seasons in Superettan, he left his hometown in the summer of 2019 for Holland Groningen.
After two seasons in the Eredivisie, when he retrained during the second season from the attacking left hand (he even worked as a striker at HBK) to the center back, he was bought by the new French champions last summer night, taking up a quite regular spot in the spring. Behind his back in four back line.
Generation takes charge of the national team
Many have called Gudmundsson’s name in connection with Jan Andersson’s national team selections this season, and a Google search of “Gabriel Gudmundsson” and “Jan Anderson” shows that Gudmundsson, who did not tour in January but only a dozen youth internationals, was already clear this fall, He thinks he is ready for the national team.
– When I had the opportunity, I watched the selections and followed them.
Then there were some disappointments?
Of course it was a disappointment in itself when you weren’t selected because you work so hard and that was a goal since you were little to come up with. Of course it was sad, but it’s also not something you go and think about, but you go back and work in everyday life and live in the present and focus on what you can influence in the moment.
Instead of Gudmundsson, veterans like Martin Olsson and Pierre Bengtsson were directed behind Ludwig Augustinsson.
Was it so heavy that there were two 34-year-olds, barely belonging to the future, who had gone before?
– I feel prepared and try to influence what I can. I’ve always been a supporter of the national team, so it wasn’t surprising that the big guys were in it. I worked hard for the next time.
Gudmundsson had never heard of Janne Andersson or Peter Wettergren until his name was suddenly included in this squad for four Nations League matches in eleven days.
How were these early days?
– It was very eventful and fun to be here.
Your generation grew up with Zlatan and was considered by many to be an idol – it’s a pity that he wasn’t here when you’re finally here?
– Of course it’s a bit like that. It would be great if he was here too. But at the same time, this is not something of great importance to him.
Speaking of Jill Gudmundsson, he belongs to the group of players born at the turn of the millennium who are now on the cusp of taking on more and more of the national team. Born in 1999 with Alexander Isaacs, Jeans Cajost and Matthias Svanberg. Dejan Kulusevsky and Edvin Kurtulus were born in 2000, and Jesper Carlson, Victor Geocres and Hjalmar Ekdal were born in 1998. Then we have the young rooster Anthony Ilanga born in 2002.
A new generation is coming now?
– it is time! There seems to be a good era here.
Dad has been recruited for PL champions
Gudmundsson not only belongs to the incomparable generation of Swedish sportsman born in 1999 – with Armand Duplantis, Alexander Isak, Frieda Karlsson, Isabel Haacke, Len Svan and Elvira Oberg – but he is also the son of a Swedish footballer. Who were the greats of the 1990s and whose children have either managed to succeed in recent years or are on their way to the football elite: Henrik Larsson (Jordan’s son), Niklas Alexandersson (Noah), Matthias Johnson (Melker), Thomas Brolin (Sebastian), Magnus Erlingmark (August ), Gary Sundgren (Daniel) and Hans Eskilson / Malin Swidberg (Elliott Swidberg).
Gabriel’s father’s name is of course Niklas Gudmundsson, who set off in Halmstad with Jan Andersson as assistant coach, played the Olympics in 1992, made seven international appearances and was recruited to new Premier League champion Blackburn in 1995.
It’s clear when you talk to Gudmundson Jr that he’s wanted to be a footballer since he was little.
So it wasn’t hard for him to be a dad who plays at the highest level, and I think he’s been tagged as ‘Son of Nikla’ for so many years? Is there nothing that scares you and makes you think about a completely different path in life?
– It was fun at first but then I thought it got a little annoying. In the end, I became supposed to be better than him, and to avoid talking about him. Since then, it was nice to have someone nearby to talk to who was at this level. Especially before when we always went through my matches etc. It has also made it easier for me to make some choices in my career thus far.
When asked who was the best player he’s played with, he answers Arjen Robben, who returned at the age of 36 in Groningen during Gudmundsson’s second season at the club.
Robin wasn’t at his peak then, but he’s still pretty good. He was very committed, focused and professional, despite suffering many injuries.
Robin retired for good (?) last summer but once again made headlines around the world in April of this year when at the age of 38 he ran his first marathon in an incomparable first time: 3 hours 14 minutes.
– He was sick. But here’s how he is: very focused and puts 110 percent into everything he does.
How focused are you?
– I try to be like him. I looked at him a little in Groningen, how he was working and how he was. These are the experiences you bring with you that eventually become important.
When you talk to and listen to Gudmundsson, it’s clear that he belongs to the type of player who has emerged in recent years who is really a 24/7 footballer, like Ludwig Augustinsson.
– I would like to say that I exist and thanks to that I am where I am.
In the French League and Champions League, and at present the national team.