Asked about her importance to the Sweden national team, who are now hoping to win the Euros for the first time since 1984, Micael added: “She's really important. In the beginning, I think most people saw her just to score goals, but today she's really important in the defence as well. She's the one who's starting everything, putting pressure on the defenders in the other team.
“That is really important for the Swedish national team. When you're young, mostly you're playing forward as you score the goals. But today, when you're a professional, for a forward or a goalscorer, you have to be good as a target player as well. That is something that she has been doing better and better during the years. That's why I think she has learned a lot in Arsenal.”
“She’s been a regular on the Sweden team for a long time now,” Frida said. “She's always been number one in the striker position under Peter Gerhardsson, and there's never really been any doubt about her keeping that place regardless of whether she's been scoring a lot of goals or not. She's seen as a really good striker in Sweden even though I think she still has some things to prove. I think some people still want to see more from her, but hopefully that will come this summer at the Euros.
“To me, I think people who criticise Stina don't realise what she's actually really good at. I think in terms of her movement on the pitch, she's absolutely brilliant. I think she's absolutely world class in terms of her runs and she opens up so much space for her teammates. I think that as soon as she feels comfortable, she's going to score a lot of goals.
“I remember at the World Cup in 2019, that was one of those tournaments where Stina was so important, because she scored a lot of important goals, especially against Canada in the last 16. Then she scored against Germany in the quarter-finals to reach the semi-finals. As soon as she scores that first goal, I think that her confidence just peaks and she's able to score easy goals, difficult goals and whatever. But if she stops believing in herself, I think that's when she struggles.
“Sometimes that's what people see, but in terms of her movement, like I said, I think she's a brilliant player, and maybe underrated also, because usually those details, if you don't watch football every week, you might not see that, but that's definitely what stands out about her in my opinion.”