World Cup 2018: Mikael Lustig's Sweden joy overshadows suspension against England
- Published
World Cup 2018: Sweden's Mikael Lustig gets booked against Switzerland
Mikael Lustig says the joy of helping Sweden reach the World Cup quarter-final overshadows the disappointment of missing the match through suspension.
The Celtic right-back was booked during the 1-0 win over Switzerland and sits out Saturday's meeting with England.
Asked if there were mixed emotions, the 31-year-old said: "There are, but it doesn't really matter.
"We have taken our country to the quarter-final in the World Cup and that's a great achievement."
The Swedes had to rely on an Emil Forsberg drive that deflected off Switzerland's Manuel Akanji past goalkeeper Yann Sommer to secure their place in the last eight.
But Lustig believes that Janne Andersson's side fully merit their progress with Germany, who won their group encounter 2-1, the only side to have scored against them in their last six outings.
"It's fantastic and I feel we deserved it," he said.
Mikael Lustig was first to congratulate Emil Forsberg on his the winning goal against Switzerland
"The way we fight and play football, we do it for our country and we are immensely proud."
Lustig picked up his second yellow card of the tournament in the 32nd minute of Tuesday's win for a pull on Josip Drmic.
He was substituted by Emil Krafth after 81 minutes and the 23-year-old Bologna player could be a direct replacement for Lustig in Samara on Saturday (15:00 BST).
Lustig absence a blow to toothless Swedes - Nevin
BBC pundit Pat Nevin believes the absence of Lustig is a blow for a Sweden's hopes of creating chances against an England side who booked their place later in the evening following a penalty shootout against Colombia.
"Lustig is a nice player going forward and he's not playing in the next game," he told Radio 5 Live.
Sweden's 3-0 win over Mexico in their final group game, when Lustig was also booked, was the only time they have scored more than once in any of their last 13 outings since an 8-0 thrashing of Luxembourg in the qualifiers.
"The last thing England fans want is to get their hopes up too much, but you have to tell it as it is," Nevin said.
Highlights: Sweden 1-0 Switzerland
"England play against that Swedish team and 99 times out of a hundred, England will beat them."
It was Forsberg's first goal after 14 attempts to score during the World Cup finals.
"He's a nice player actually and has some skill about him, but I've seen some of those other 13 shots and they were rotten - really poor," Nevin said.
The former Scotland winger was frustrated by the lack of threat up front from both the Swedes and Swiss.
"Sweden just didn't look good enough," he added. "There just didn't look like there was any sophistication to them or anything different they could do.
"They will never surprise you or play between the lines.
"You are looking all around that team and looking for someone that's going to surprise you and there's absolutely no-one."