Sweden striker Marcus Berg claims he had to rein it in after a yellow card in the opening minute, but “Italy were trying to get me sent off.”
The forward was booked for dissent after Ola Toivonen elbowed Leonardo Bonucci straight after kick-off in this World Cup play-off, but risked a second booking many times with elbows and shoves of his own.
“It was a tough game, as expected, with three big, tough central defenders. We knew the situation,” Berg told Rai Sport.
Sweden striker Marcus Berg claims he had to rein it in after a yellow card in the opening minute, but “Italy were trying to get me sent off.”
The forward was booked for dissent after Ola Toivonen elbowed Leonardo Bonucci straight after kick-off in this World Cup play-off, but risked a second booking many times with elbows and shoves of his own.
“It was a tough game, as expected, with three big, tough central defenders. We knew the situation,” Berg told Rai Sport.
“It was a difficult game, I got my first yellow after 15 seconds, so I had to change my way of playing a little bit. I think they were trying to make me get a second yellow in the second half, but the referee didn’t fall for it.”
Italy were beaten 1-0 in Solna, so must win the second leg at San Siro on Monday at least 2-0. Does this now make Sweden the favourites?
“I don’t know if Sweden are favourites, I don’t think like that. We have to go to Milan and play our game. We know what to do, we’ll analyse this game and we have strong belief in what we need to do.”