Zlatan Ibrahimovic sends message to 'sad' Sweden teen Smilla Holmberg after her miss against England in the 'worst penalty shoot out ever'
Holmberg skied over the bar from 12 yards to hand the Lionesses victory in what was dubbed the 'worst penalty shootout ever' by multiple fans.
With the Women's Euros quarter-final having ended in a 2-2 draw after extra time, England won 3-2 on penalties after each team had taken seven kicks.
Alessia Russo, Julia Zigiotti Olme, Nathalie Bjorn, Chloe Kelly and Lucy Bronze were the only players to successfully convert from the spot in a chaotic shootout featuring nine misses – including one from Sweden goalkeeper Jennifer Falk, who had saved three penalties before blasting her own over the crossbar.
Holmberg's miss proved decisive and the teenager was left in tears, but she received an unexpected boost the following morning in the form of a personal message from Sweden's greatest male footballer.
'It was a sad daughter I held in my arms about an hour after the game,' Holmberg's father, Ola Persson, told Swedish radio. '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.'
Ibrahimovic, who is part-owner of Holmberg's club Hammarby and scored 62 goals in 122 caps for Sweden's men's team, encouraged the young defender to take the next penalty, and the next one after that – urging her to believe in herself and to grow from the experience.
'The most important thing is that no-one defines a career by those misses,' Persson added. 'In fact, it's the opposite – you have to grow in those situations.'
Holmberg had stepped up after misses from team-mate Filippa Angeldahl and England trio Lauren James, Beth Mead and Alex Greenwood, among others. She needed to score to force an eighth round of penalties, but her effort sailed over the bar.
England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, who saved two spot-kicks and finished the match with a bloodied face after a collision earlier in the quarter-final, admitted the shootout was 'stressful' for all involved.
'Every time I saved one I was thinking, 'please just put it in so we have a bit of a cushion,' she told the BBC. 'Then their keeper saved the next one and I was thinking, "oh goodness, here we go."'
England had looked dead and buried after falling 2-0 behind to first-half goals from Kosovare Asllani and Stina Blackstenius, but mounted a dramatic late comeback with goals in the 79th and 81st minutes from Bronze and teenage substitute Michelle Agyemang.
The victory sent Sarina Wiegman's side into a fourth semi-final in five tournaments – and made them the first reigning champions since Germany in 2009 to reach the final four of the following Euros. England will face Italy in Geneva on Tuesday.
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Neymar's 'five-day bender' Most football supporters would guess that Yamal's footballing idol would be Lionel Messi, for obvious reasons. But that's not the case, the now 18-year-old has always had a love for Neymar Jr. Based on the way he dances across the pitch, it makes a lot of sense. Yamal is a perfect blend of both Messi and Neymar. However, it seems that he has not only based his skills on the Brazilian, but also his love of partying. The pair met up in Neymar's homeland for what can only be described as the quietest part of Yamal's summer. A number of videos shared on social media showcased the Barcelona star enjoying life by a swimming pool at his hero's home in Mangaratiba, Rio de Janeiro. The duo can be seen playing volleyball in the clips, as well as swimming in the sunshine, but that is nothing compared to the shenanigans that Neymar has gotten up to in the past. Neymar will know exactly how Yamal feels after a wave of criticism, as in the winter of 2020, the Brazilian was subject to a probe after allegedly organising a five-day party in a resort near Rio de Janeiro for 500 revellers, while Covid-19 continued to rip through Brazil. Prosecutors contacted Neymar amid multiple reports in the Brazilian media that he had a disco built with acoustic protection for a bash that would start on Christmas Day and continue until the New Year. Eyewitnesses had claimed to have seen floods of guests making their way to the event, and many others leaving, with their host aiming to keep the party a secret, which clearly didn't work, by imposing a ban on all mobile phones for attending partygoers. Models, who had flown in for the event, had, however, shared photos minutes away from the mansion Neymar had allegedly rented for the party, with wristbands guaranteeing access over five days. Despite reports that Neymar had spent around £568,000 on the event, the forward denied any involvement. The eventual cancellation followed the party gaining national and international attention during the pandemic. The Brazilian was blasted by a human rights lawyer, who had tweeted at the time, 'The idiot trophy for the day goes to Neymar for his five-day party.' Liverpool's fancy dress controversy It's time to head back to the 1990s, which seemed to be the era where footballers really did some wacky things. Well, going by the story I am about to share, and many more. The Reds had many a reason to host a celebratory bash in the late 1980s and early 90s as they dominated English football, before their rivals, Manchester United, took over the mantle, and regularly threw extravagant parties. However, on one particular occasion, Reds legend John Barnes caused controversy with a fancy dress outfit. The once rapid and skillful winger, who notched up 199 goal contributions during 10 successful years at Anfield, was pictured at a party dressed up as a member of the Ku Klux Klan - an extremist white supremacist group. 'There was a fellow in a white outfit with a pointy hat who was John Barnes, (he was) the Ku Klux Klan,' Bruce Grobbelar once revealed to BT Sport, now known as TNT Sports. Is this not you on the left 🥱 @officialbarnesy — Blanco Freecss (@blanc0b0urne) January 23, 2020 After donning a Ku Klux Klan costume in the 90s, Barnes said he would 'do it again' back in 2020 Barnes has been criticised in years gone by for his outfit choice, but as recently as five years ago, he said he would don the outfit again. 'Absolutely and I'd do it again,' Barnes wrote on X in 2020. 'And go as Hitler to a fancy dress party. 'Fancy dress parties are there for you to make fun of people you go as and the kkk and Hitler are figures to be ridiculed so I see no problem in that... I wouldn't go as Kunta Kinte with chains on...' It has previously been suggested that Barnes' team-mate was on door duty for the party when a man in a white sheet approached, trying to get in. McMahon is believed to have uttered: 'You can't come in like that. John Barnes is in there,' before Barnes is said to have pulled off his hood and replied, 'No, he's in here.' Vinnie Jones' 'dwarf-tossing' In 1994, Vinnie Jones was put in charge of organising Chelsea's Christmas party. The footballer turned Hollywood actor has a reputation for being one of the sports tough guys, so you can imagine the parties he threw were rather wild. However, during a lock-in at a London pub with his ex-Chelsea team-mates, with Jones back playing for Wimbledon at the time, the Welshman opted to play a game that many would look down upon in the current era. 'The idea was to pick up a dwarf and hurl him as far as you could,' said striker Tony Cascarino. 'I had a go, but I can't remember how I did. They were heavier than I expected.' Celtic's trio of arrests We all know that staff Christmas parties end up in carnage. It's not only footballers that have stories which are hard to comprehend; I'm sure many of you reading this have some of your own, am I right? However, have you ever seen anybody get arrested at your work do? I'd like to guess that many of you have just thought of the word 'no', but knowing what they are like, I'm almost certain a handful of readers may have uttered 'yes'. If you happen to have been a member of the Celtic squad in the winter of 2002, and you have for some reason decided to click on this article and carry on reading in anticipation of what's about to come, you will have definitely done the latter. The Bhoys in Green partied hard 23 years ago, with their bash involving bikini-clad waitresses, mechanical bulls, nightclub bouncers, and three sets of handcuffs. The party took place south of the Scottish border in Newcastle, as the players hoped for some anonymity. However, they didn't get it, and when Joos Valgaeren, Johan Mjallby, and Bobby Petta spotted photographers trying to snap pictures of them, they saw red. The trio allegedly damaged cameras worth £12,000, which led to a night in the cells. Neil Lennon was also pictured being led away from the incident by police; however, he was later released without charge. Barton's cigar scandal Joey Barton was notorious for violence during a 15-year professional career, which started at Manchester City, the club he joined at just 15 years of age. On many occasions during his time at the club and beyond, incidents have boiled over, and on one night in 2004, that's exactly what happened. The City squad were all at a fancy dress party, where Barton was believed to be dressed as Jimmy Saville, and the players thought it would be fun to start setting each other's outfits on fire. 'We were on the booze all day Sunday morning, and I think Paul Bosvelt or [Robbie] Fowler started it. They were all in fancy dress in this bar and started setting each other's costumes alight,' Barton told the Anything Goes With James English podcast in 2023. 'So it was the seniors who started it, just burning the edge of it. In five or ten minutes, it went round the whole group, and then it stopped. 'I'd burned [Jamie] Tandy's costume. Someone had got me, and then I'd burned Tandy back - no malice in it. He didn't have the opportunity to get me back, everything gets calmed down, lighters are confiscated from everybody by the security.' However, things got out of hand between Barton and academy star Tandy, with the former stubbing a cigar in the eye of the then-teenager. 'So for some bizarre reason unknown to me this day, I thought it would be a fantastic idea as a payback to him to stump the cigar out on the back of his head,' Barton continued. 'That was the logic, makes no sense now, but at the time, a burn for a burn, he's getting this on the back of his head. 'As I've gone like that to stick it on the back of his head, he's naturally felt me coming and turned towards me, and it's managed to graze his eyelid. He's gone down.' Barton was fined six weeks' wages for the incident, and Tandy was left with permanent scarring to his eyelid. Spurs' sneaky Dublin trip Harry Redknapp is a man of principle, and while manager at Tottenham Hotspur, he trusted his players to be transparent with him. In 2009, the English coach once claimed that his players would 'never take the liberty' of going behind his back to organise a party. If they decided to go under his nose, there would be trouble. Well, sorry, Harry, it appears that you didn't know your players all that well, because that's exactly what they did; they went behind his back. Captain Robbie Keane informed Redknapp that he was planning on taking his team-mates to Dublin, so that they could all play some rounds of golf. However, that was not really his intention. What Keane actually did was lead 16 players on a pub crawl around the Irish capital, which is certainly not short of top-tier drinking holes. Robbie Keane went behind Redknapp's back and took his team-mates to Dublin, which led to an unhappy boss Once Redknapp had found out, he said: 'Wednesday was their day off and Robbie told me they were going to Dublin to play golf. I had no problem with that. I am not happy, and it will be dealt with, and dealt with severely. I was shocked when I heard about it. 'I don't see why parties should happen in today's football - they're more trouble than they're worth.' Every player involved in the night out was fined £20,000, and Spurs went on to lose their next home match to Wolves; the first time the West Midlands team had won in London in 33 years.
