Following Zlatan Ibrahimović’s retirement from Sweden, Manchester United defender Victor Lindelöf is one of the biggest names in the national team.
The centre-back was set to be called-up by Janne Andersson for the international fixtures in March, but decided to opt out of the squad. After his withdrawal, Sweden’s TV4 and Fotbollskanalen reported internal conflict as the reason for his withdrawal
A few Sweden supporters heavily criticised the 25-year-old and he even received death threats for not being a part of the national team.
In reality, his wife Maja Nilsson Lindelöf was due to give birth to the couple’s first child, and he wanted to support his family.
The Red Devils defender then missed out on June’s international fixtures and it is the first time since March he’s been included in the Sweden squad. Since joining up with the squad he’s understandably been boycotting both TV4 and Fotbollskanalen.
Sweden registered a 4-0 victory over the Faroe Islands and Lindelöf got his name on the scoresheet.
TV4 didn’t even show the Manchester United player’s goal whilst broadcasting the highlights on their morning, and didn’t mention him. This was noticed by a large section of the viewers. Sportbladet decided to get in touch with TV4 and got a response from their press officer Ludvig Ternstedt.
He said: “No no. It has absolutely nothing to do with the boycott. Sometimes the editors adjust the goals to be displayed, depending on the amount of time available.
“But I can guarantee that it has absolutely nothing to do with the boycott. In our highlights after the match and in Sport’s evening broadcast yesterday we showed all the goals.”
TV4’s decision to not mention Lindelöf or show his goal seems bizarre, especially given the circumstances.
