Nilsson Lindelöf met the Swedish media at the player’s hotel in Girona before Wednesday night’s international match against Mexico. He refused to answer questions about Ronaldo. He didn’t even want to justify why.
— Unfortunately, I will not answer any questions about him.
Can’t, won’t?
— Can, I can, but I won’t. That’s my answer.
Then he would rather talk about the mission as ambassador for Unicef that awaits while the WC is in full swing in Qatar. The centre-back does not intend to watch many matches on television. That the national team missed the playoffs still stings. Besides, he’s not much for watching football.
“I actually don’t remember the last time I watched a match,” he says.
Travels with Maja to Gambia
Nilsson Lindelöf gets about ten days off from the club during the English break. Then he chooses to be in Gambia with his wife Maja during part of the leave.
As early as Sunday, he and Maja get on a plane to Gambia – around the same time as Qatar and Ecuador begin the heavily criticized World Cup finals in Doha.
— I will be there for a few days, on a field trip with Unicef. We’ll go down and see how they work. We have been trying for quite some time. I started working with them just before the pandemic and then we couldn’t travel.
— Now we missed the WC, got some time off and then we take the opportunity to go. It will be a lot of fun to see how they work down there and what you can do to help. I am in a position where I can do good things, raise different topics and so on.
— My wife feels the same. For me, it’s important because I haven’t been on a field trip, to be able to go down and see where the money goes and how it simply works, says Nilsson Lindelöf.
Wanted to the national team
But before it leaves for Africa, he will miss the last two international matches of the year, against Mexico on Wednesday night and against Algeria on Saturday. For Victor Nilsson Lindelöf, it was important to join the squad.
— I wanted to come here and spoke to the club. I asked to go. These are the last matches before the EC qualifiers begin. It feels good to be here and the club understood that, he says.
If Nilsson Lindelöf did not want to talk about Ronaldo, national team poles Ludwig Augustinsson and Isak Hien had opinions.
Augustinsson was surprised by the strength of Ronaldo’s criticism of manager Erik ten Hag and United’s management.
— It feels so explosive. It was a lot of things coming at once and there’s a lot of talk around the world when one of the greatest players of all time makes a statement like he does. When Robin Olsen and I saw it at the hotel, we were surprised.
“You can see that he is frustrated, but he could have done it in a better way, of course,” says Augustinsson.
Center back Isak Hien:
— I’ve only seen small snippets from the interview and probably don’t have any sensible opinions, but if there’s anyone in the football world who should be allowed to express what they feel and think, it’s probably Ronaldo.
– It will obviously be a difficult situation with Manchester United, who is his employer, for everyone who works in and around the club and then also the players. It might not be the best situation to be in.