Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has regularly utilised Benjamin Nygren at Celtic Park this season. This has helped him cement a place in Sweden’s team despite tough competition from Tottenham Hotspur‘s Lucas Bergvall and others.
At Celtic, the 24-year-old has mainly operated as an attacking midfielder with a four-man back line.
Sweden manager Graham Potter prefers three at the back and the Celtic man plays in the middle. The Tottenham midfielder and a few other players are also competing for the two midfield spots.
In Sweden’s 5-1 win over Tunisia in the World Cup, Potter started the Celtic player and Brighton & Hove Albion’s Yasin Ayari as his two midfielders. Bergvall came on to replace Nygren in the 65th minute, and this didn’t bother him.
Celtic star happy to compete with Tottenham player
Ahead of Sweden’s World Cup tie against the Netherlands on Saturday, Fotbollskanalen caught up Benjamin Nygren.
The interview mainly focuses on his competition with Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Lucas Bergvall.
Fotbollskanalen claims the Celtic star and the 20-year-old are battling for the No.8/No.10 spots in Graham Potter’s lineup.
On whether Nygren expects to start tomorrow, he said: “Of course, I have a hunch, but I can’t go around saying that.”
When further quizzed about the competition with the Tottenham player, Nygren explained: “Competition is a good thing, it makes the team stronger. We need a strong squad to go far in the tournament. We’re here to win, and at the same time, everyone here wants to help the team. Competition is a good thing. It just makes the team stronger.”
“Lucas is probably a bit more of a pure midfielder. I’m a bit more offensive. I get into the box a bit more and have historically been a bit more of a goal scorer.”
The Celtic midfielder then went on to praise Bergvall.
“Lucas is, after all, one of the greatest talents Sweden has ever had. He’s amazing both as a player and I really like him as a person. We’ve become close,” he added.
“In a national team, there should be a lot of competition. The more competition, the stronger the team becomes. It’s a good thing.”
Sweden’s fixtures and standings
Sweden are in Group F, along with Tunisia, the Netherlands and Japan.
They lead the group with three points, two points ahead of second and third placed Japan and the Netherlands respectively.
Their remaining fixtures:
- v the Netherlands on June 20th
- v Japan on June 26th
