Forsberg ready for Ronaldo challenge
STOCKHOLM – After a season in which he has been of vital importance for both club and country, some comparisons between Sweden winger Emil Forsberg and Cristiano Ronaldo may be obvious, but the 25-year-old Swede is very much his own man.
Speaking to Reuters ahead of Sweden’s departure to face European champions Portugal in a friendly in Madeira on Tuesday, a relaxed Forsberg brushed off suggestions that he might have been inspired by the 32-year-old Ronaldo.
“Every f ootball player looks at some players and gets inspiration from them, but I don’t look too much,” he said with a wry smile.
Full of energy and preferring to start on the left and cut inside onto his favored right foot, there are plenty of similarities between Forsberg and Ronaldo.
For the best part of a decade, the Portuguese attacker has dominated discussions about who is the game’s greatest player, together with Argentina’s Leo Messi.
Forsberg’s two goals for Sweden in Saturday’s 4- 0 win over Belarus, where he displayed his full range of dribbles, passing and crossing, and Bulgaria’s win over the Netherlands leaves Sweden second in World Cup qualifying Group A, three points behind leaders France.
“It was a good result, we’re in a good position but still we have to take our points,” Forsberg said, sounding a note of caution.
Having cut his teeth at Swedish side GIF Sundsvall before moving to Malmo, Forsberg said he prefers to meet the top opposition in friendlies and that he is looking forward to testing himself against Ronaldo and Portugal. (