On Tuesday, Nottingham Forest’s Anthony Elanga came off the bench to score in Sweden’s 5-1 friendly win over Northern Ireland.
The 22-year-old spoke to the Swedish media after the tie and Expressen have relayed his comments.
Elanga celebrated with Jon Dahl Tomasson and even hugged the national team manager. This made news mainly because of the Nottingham Forest player’s controversial spat with the Dane.
Jon Dahl Tomasson left him on the bench for two games last October. That annoyed the winger, who refused to attend a team dinner and then didn’t respond to calls from the national team manager.
The former Manchester United man was dropped from the squad for November’s fixtures and was recalled for the friendlies against Luxembourg and Northern Ireland this month.
Last week, Elanga stated he contacted the former Blackburn Rovers boss and had a “good chat” with him.
The Swedish media extensively covered the drama involving the pair. On Tuesday, Elanga was asked about this, and said: “It doesn’t affect me. I am fully focused when I come here. I just focus on what I do on the pitch.”
When asked was it ‘extra nice’ to get his name on the scoresheet, Elanga explained: “Yes, 100%. It’s always nice to score. But the most important thing was that we won.”
On hugging Jon Dahl Tomasson, the Nottingham Forest attacker added: “I was thirsty, wanted to go and drink water. Then he came and we hugged, then all the players came too. We are all together. It doesn’t matter where you play otherwise, when we come to Sweden, we are all together.”
After the tie, Jon Dahl Tomasson said he doesn’t remember if Elanga said anything to him.
“I can’t remember if he said anything. But it was a nice hug. Being in the right place to score a goal is an important quality,” he said.
