”Smilla, Smilla, Smilla!” chanted the yellow-clad end of Letzigrundstadion in Zürich after half an hour of play – and strange would it be otherwise.
Yes, so fantastic. I got a little goosebumps. So fun that so many could make it here, they mean everything to us, says Smilla Holmberg after the 4–1 win that gave Sweden the group victory.
Only one Swedish player has been younger and scored for Sweden in a European Championship match: attacking legend Hanna Ljungberg.
Shared second place
Smilla Holmberg is now shared second on that list. The Hammarby talent, 18 years and 274 days old on Saturday, got the chance from the start in the group final against Germany. As she took it.
With her whole family in place in Zürich, she went out and performed her first championship match as if she had never done anything else.
Already in the third minute, the quick right-back stormed in between the German defenders in the opponent's penalty area and served Kosovare Asllani on a silver platter.
The finish from the 35-year-old midfield veteran – who herself became Sweden's oldest European Championship goalscorer of all time in the 3–0 win over Poland the other day – went wide, however.
In the 25th minute, Smilla Holmberg solved the problem on her own.
Exclamation mark in the squad
She easily and cheekily got past Sarai Linder on the right flank. Klara Bühl came to the rescue, Holmberg also fooled her. She squeezed past the two Germans and when Linder then tried to break, it didn't work out better than the ball going via the Swede's foot and straight into the net.
The goal, which meant a Swedish 2–1 lead, the main character hardly remembers.
It was very difficult to take in, actually, a lot of emotions. But it was fantastic, especially since we had had a tougher start, says Holmberg.
Sweden's national team coach Peter Gerhardsson was very pleased with his championship debutant.
Smilla does it very well. With counterplay, we felt that Smilla could fit well against this opposition. She can handle the most skilled one-on-one players she has met at this level and does it so well, says Gerhardsson to Viaplay.
It has gone fast for Smilla Holmberg this spring. As recently as the end of May, she made her debut in the A-national team, then she was one of the exclamation marks in the Swedish European Championship squad. In the premiere against Denmark, she was substituted in and got to make her championship debut.
And now she has written herself into the history books as one of only three 18-year-olds who have scored for Sweden in a European Championship.
