Jon Dahl Tomasson, Sweden coach: “Portugal is the Manchester City of national teams” – National Team

The Swedish national football coach considered today that Portugal “is one of the favorites to win Euro2024” and points out that the preparatory game, this Thursday, in Guimarães, will help his team “to evolve”.

“Portugal is one of the best teams in Europe. It’s the Manchester City of national teams. In ten games with coach Roberto Martínez, he won everything and only conceded two goals. They can win the Euro, just look at the team they have. For me, they are one of the favorites”, said Jon Dahl Tomasson, previewing the duel between both teams.

The Danish coach, who started working with the Swedish coach last month, even considered that Portugal serves as an inspiration for his new professional project.

“This Portuguese team inspires me in the way they play. They have good players, but they are a real team. They manage to create goal opportunities in several ways, and despite having many stars, they play as a cohesive group”, said the coach.

Jon Dahl Tomasson, therefore, points out that this friendly game against the ‘quinas’ team “will be a great challenge for Sweden”, but promised that he will not present a team with a low block.

“They asked me to implement offensive and modern football, and we have good players for that. We want to excite the public and this game is the first step on a long journey. We are not going to create a defensive block, because then we won’t learn anything and we want to evolve”, stressed the coach.

In this style of football that he intends to implement in Sweden, Jon Dahl Tomasson recognized that Sporting striker Viktor Gyökeres is an important player, and is not surprised by what the striker has done in the Portuguese championship, where he is the top scorer.

“He’s an excellent player, I’ve known him since he played in the Championship [segundo escalão inglês]. I understand why people here in Portugal like him so much. We’ve talked a lot about how to play, but I have nothing to teach you. He scores goals every week, and even in the last match he scored three,” he said.

The selector guaranteed that Viktor Goykeres is as popular in Sweden as he is in Portugal, and pointing out him as a reference for many young people, he believes that the striker still has the potential to evolve.

“Everyone in Sweden is very proud of his attitude and also of the goals he scores. I’ve known him since he played in England, but now I think he’s better. He took advantage of being in a country as beautiful as this one and playing in a good league to evolve. I hope he continues to score, also for Sweden”, added Tomasson.

Still talking about goals, the Swedish coach was faced with the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo in the Portuguese team in this game, highlighting that this will not bring any more ease to his team.

“Cristiano Ronaldo is an excellent player, with a lot of goals, and I feel he will continue to score. But the rest of Portugal’s players play in great teams and also score a lot of goals. That’s why I say they are favorites for Euro2024”, added Jon Dahl Tomasson.

The Nordic coach confirmed that he has the entire team available for this challenge, and confessed that both Viktor Gyökeres and central defender Victor Lindelöf, a former Benfica player, will be in the starting eleven.

Portugal and Sweden faced each other this Thursday, at the D. Afonso Henriques Stadium, in Guimarães, in a preparation game scheduled for 7:45 pm, which will be refereed by the Spaniard Ricardo Burgos.