Rangers star Filip Helander played the entire 90 minutes as Sweden inflicted the first World Cup Qualifying defeat on Spain for 28 years.
Sweden came from behind to secure a legendary 2-1 win against a talent-strewn Spain side with Viktor Claesson scoring what turned out to be the eventual winner in the second half.
Spain had taken the lead through Valencia midfielder Carlos Soler after only four minutes by Sweden only for Alexander Isak to equalise less than a minute later.
Claesson would then score 12 minutes after the restart as the Scandinavians held on despite managing only 75% possession in the match.
RONALDO NEEDS TO STOP WHINING.
Filip Helander – who scored the winning goal in last weekend’s 1-0 Old Firm derby win over Celtic – came up against the likes of Gerard Moreno, Alvaro Morata and Ferran Torres in the match.
It was an assured display from the big defender and as a result Big Fil earned the plaudits from football fans on Twitter after the match:
What a few days it has been for Filip Helander. Been working on Sweden v Spain tonight and after his Old Firm winner on Sunday, he's absolutely bossed Adama Traore in the final stages to help the home side see out a 2-1 win in Solna. Another top display from the Rangers defender.
— Andrew Dickson (@mrandrewdickson) September 2, 2021
Dejan Kulusevski and Alexander Isak will obviously get the headlines, as the should. But Filip Helander and Victor Lindelöf were so good at the back.
— 🇸🇪 (@SwedeStats) September 2, 2021
Filip Helander has surely won that starting spot in the team after this game.
— 🇸🇪 (@SwedeStats) September 2, 2021
Victor Lindelöf won 100% of his ground duels (3/3) and Filip Helander won 100% of his aerial duels (2/2).
— 🇸🇪 (@SwedeStats) September 2, 2021
Another solid display from Old Firm hero Filip Helander as Sweden beat Spain 2-1 in World Cup qualifying.
The coaches and players who saw him come through at Malmo speak of a player who hasn’t changed much over the years. He is a dying breed.https://t.co/OinvlhMMVR pic.twitter.com/5dPJlGGegf
— Jordan Campbell (@JordanC1107) September 2, 2021
Great week for Big Filip Helander 🇬🇧 https://t.co/e9piZm40Il
— Andrew Bluebells (@andrewbluebells) September 2, 2021
Seeing as Helander was once again outstanding tonight, here's a bit of Swedish commentary from his goal at the weekend…. pic.twitter.com/toArumFvWK
— The Göteborg Loyal (@GoteborgL) September 2, 2021
Helander has been unreal for Sweden tonight. What a centre half and what a week he has had if can see this out!
— Barrie (@twowordsbaz) September 2, 2021
There’s a reason why Helander is a firm fan favourite at Ibrox and his performance is sure to do his chances of breaking into the Sweden XI permanently no harm.
The big defender has also been speaking about Rangers fans adopting the song Gimme, Gimme, Gimme by ABBA in homage to him.
“It was a lot of fun and cool to score the winning goal in such a big match. I rank it very high, it was perhaps my most important goal in my career,” said Helander [Sportbladet].
“So it was a great game to play in and I have never experienced such an atmosphere around a stadium like then. I could not hear properly during the game.
“I heard the fans singing my song, but it’s been quite a while since I sang any Abba songs myself and I may not have been completely sober when I did it!”
Big Fil has also been opening up on reported interest from the Premier League heading into the summer transfer window.