Williamson ready to put Arsenal friendship aside for Blackstenius and Sweden test

The Guardian

5 days ago

Leah Williamson has described Arsenal teammate Stina Blackstenius as an 'incredibly powerful footballer' as the pair prepare to go head-to-head in the Euro 2025 quarter-final between England and Sweden.
'She's a great player and she has been for many years now,' said the England captain. 'Her experience speaks for itself. We were celebrating her success at Arsenal, but not so much now. We'll see. Stina is an incredibly powerful footballer and very intelligent with her runs. She's a hard player to play against in that respect.'
The two players were on the same Arsenal side in May when Blackstenius scored the winner against Barcelona in the Champions League final. And trying to separate the friendship they have when they step on to the pitch in Zurich on Thursday can be challenging. 'It's different because playing each other in training comes with restrictions, it's rare that I get to play against Stina in this setting. I enjoy it, I like Stina,' Williamson said with a grin. 'It's tough to remove all of that to just go at it, you don't want to focus on it too much, there's lots of things that come into play when you play against a teammate, but I think I've known Stina long enough now that I know who she is and it's time to focus on us.'
As a centre-back, Williamson will be directly up against her club colleague, but she is wary of pinpointing Blackstenius's threat alone. 'When you have a team who work for each other like Sweden, then you don't need to necessarily have a crazy standout threat because everyone plays their roles,' she said. 'They are hard to prepare for in that sense. The discipline for them all to complete their jobs on the pitch makes them a dangerous side.'
Williamson's focus in this tournament is staying present, replicating her mantra of the 2022 Euros. 'I want to enjoy it and spend time with my teammates,' she said. 'It's a great environment and I love being around them all. Beth Mead was laughing at me the other day because I did the day in the life of her, which meant I didn't go back to my room and I was very sociable. By the end of the day I slept good.
'I said to her: 'I don't know how you do this every day,' and she said: 'This is my every day'. I said: 'Yes, it's crazy to me, I'm not that type of person'. But it's little things like that, just trying to be around more. In 2022 I slept most of the time that I wasn't on a pitch so yes, a bit different this time.'
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There is also praise for Jill Scott's presence, with the influential character having retired after the 2022 Euros. 'We can't get rid of her,' joked Williamson. 'I've already had a couple of conversations this tournament with Jill, one-to-one. She's a funny character, but she can be serious and she has so many experiences of her own and an incredible perspective, she does actually help us out. When she retired we were begging for somebody to employ her within the FA just to bring her along. I'm glad that she is here and she's found a way to be here. It's only ever a positive thing for the team. She's one of the greatest teammates I've ever had.'