Zlatan Ibrahimovic offered some words of support to teenaged defender Smilla Holmberg after her miss in Thursday's penalty shootout ended Sweden's Euro 2025 campaign in the quarterfinals following an astonishing defeat by England.
Sweden were beaten 3-2 on penalties after 18-year-old Holmberg fired her effort high over the bar in an incredible shootout that featured 14 players taking spot kicks.
Holmberg burst into tears after her miss as she headed back towards her crestfallen teammates but Swedish hero Ibrahimovic reached out to offer some comfort.
18-year old Smilla Holmberg showed true character against England. To step up and take that kind of responsibility at her age is big. pic.twitter.com/gDggwd8a44
— 🇸🇪 (@SwedeStats) July 18, 2025
"It was a sad daughter I held in my arms about an hour after the game," Holmberg's father Ola Persson told Swedish radio on Friday.
"She is strong and she has received a lot of support from both the team, supporters, friends and relatives, she even got a text message from Zlatan here this morning."
Sweden's record goal-scorer for the men's team is part-owner of Holmberg's Stockholm club Hammarby and the 43-year-old messaged the young defender to tell her to take the next penalty, and the next one, and to keep believing in herself.
"The most important thing is that no-one defines a career by those misses; in fact, it's the opposite, you have to grow in those situations," Persson said.
