Leeds United’s Pontus Jansson played in defence as Sweden succumbed to a 3-0 loss to Spain last night (Monday), but still came out of the defeat with plenty of credit.
The 28-year-old, who recently reassured fans of his desire to stay and fight for promotion, has often been linked with moves away. Plenty of pundits have said he has the ability to play at a higher level.
He had the chance to show it as he came up against the likes of Isco, Alvaro Morata and Marco Asensio in the Euro 2020 qualifier, and Luis Enrique’s side certainly gave him plenty of work to do.
Spain have an immense record in Euro qualifying, winning their last 19 games on home soil, a run that stretches back to 2003, and they looked in their usual mood.
Playing with their characteristic style, they utterly dominated the game, recording 74 per cent possession, 23 shots and 16 corners.
This was largely down to classy performances from Sergio Busquets, Dani Parejo and Isco, who won the midfield battle and put them in cruise control.
This forced Sweden into a backs-to-the-wall defensive performance, in which Jansson had to step up in the absence of the central defensive pairing that led them to the World Cup quarter-final last summer, the veteran Andreas Granqvist and Manchester United’s Victor Lindelof.
This meant that Leeds’ fan favourite was played alongside his former Malmo partner Filip Helander, and they did pretty well for the majority of the game.
In spite of Spain’s utter domination, they frustrated the hosts for a long time - the breakthrough didn’t come until after the hour mark, when Sergio Ramos stepped up to convert a penalty after the ball had struck Seb Larsson’s hand inside the area.
And it wasn’t until the 85th minute that they doubled their lead, with another penalty, this one scored by second-half substitute Morata after Helander brought down Morata.
Jansson couldn’t possibly have been blamed for either penalty, although he was turned by Morata in the build up to the second, and there was also little he could to do to block Mikel Oyarzabal’s curling strike in the dying minutes.
In the end, the scoreline didn’t flatter the Leeds man. But that doesn’t tell the story of his individual performance, in which he made 13 clearances, blocked two shots, made two interceptions, won all three of the duels he contested and registered a 94.1% pass completion rate.
Pontus Jansson was the best player on the pitch tonight pic.twitter.com/I97gRGwUNn
— Harry Collinson (@collinson_harry) June 10, 2019
Such a resolute and dogged defensive display from Sweden, Jansson was a rock at the back and Augustinsson put in a shift but two moments of indiscipline cost them dearly, Spain needed the penalties today, even with Carvajal and Isco working hard, they lacked imagination #ESPSWE
— JNSports (@JNSports1) June 10, 2019
Pontus Jansson is a beast
— RIP Jose Antonio Reyes (@SwedishJoker92) June 10, 2019
His Leeds teammate Mateusz Klich had different fortunes on Monday night as Poland ran out 4-0 winners over Israel to put themselves in a good position to qualify for next summer’s Euros, with four wins out of four so far.
Sweden look in a more precarious position, as Spain look likely to run away with it at the top of the qualifying group. Halfway through, Jansson’s side look set to battle it out with Romania and local rivals Norway for the runners-up spot.
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