He himself calls it a comeback, even though Mikael Appelgren has only occasionally been in the national team in recent years.
In the 2023 World Championship – his most recent major tournament – he was mostly the third-choice goalkeeper.
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, he was a reserve and not part of the squad.
Now it looks like "The Apple" will have a key role in the home European Championship, after starting in both group matches against Brazil.
"I don't just feel good again; I feel like I'm on top of the world again. It's a big difference," says Appelgren ahead of Saturday's opener against the Netherlands in Malmö.
Injured
Up until Euro 2020, which ended with an early exit in Malmö, Mikael Appelgren was a regular in the national team for many years, where he shared the goalkeeping duties with Andreas Palicka in several championships in a row.
Then he suffered serious shoulder and knee injuries, which kept him out of the game for about two years. At the same time, things started to get tougher for Rhein-Neckar Löwen, where Appelgren did not receive the same trust as before his injuries.
Before this season, he transferred to Hungarian Veszprém after a total of ten years with Löwen.
During the autumn, "Äpplet" has performed well.
Part of the club change was to increase my chances of being in the national team by playing at the highest level in the Champions League again. It has been great to meet “the best of the best” and prove that you can be at that level and not just in one match, but in several, says Appelgren.
Strong goalkeeping trio
One of the big questions when the national team gathered for the European Championship was what the hierarchy looked like on the goalkeeper side, where Appelgren has tough competition from Andreas Palicka and Fabian Norsten.
Norsten, 25, is seen as the best option for the future.
Palicka, 39, has been the best in the national team in recent years.
But Appelgren, 36, is in the best form today and, judging by the team's performance, looks to have the most confidence when the European Championships begin.
I would really like to stand and save balls for Sweden; that's what I do best. But if it's another goalkeeper who does it, that's also absolutely fantastic. I want to win matches, says "Äpplet", who doesn't dare to predict too much about Sweden's chances at the European Championship:
There is a lot of experience while also bringing in some new young great talents. If you put that together, we are a very good team.
Carl Goransson/TT
Facts: Mikael Appelgren
TT
Born: September 6, 1989.
Mother club: Physical culture.
Current club: Veszprém.
Number of international caps: 103 (debuted in 2011).
Previous championships: 7 (European Championship 2016, Olympic Games 2016, World Championship 2017, European Championship 2018, World Championship 2019, European Championship 2020, World Championship 2023).
