Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof was on the wrong end of a humiliating international defeat with Sweden.

For the most part, Sweden’s national squad has had a terrible year. The post-Zlatan years have not been kind, despite reaching the World Cup 2018 and Euro 2020 knockout stages.

They hoped that their failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup last year would be an isolated incident. Rather, their attempts to qualify for Euro 2024 were unsuccessful at the most recent international break, when Belgium and Austria’s Ralf Rangnick qualified out of their group.

Last night they reached a new low when they took on Azerbaijan and slumped to a 3-0 defeat, with Victor Lindelof captaining the side.

Swedish press react to loss

Victor Lindelof’s role in the loss was heavily scrutinised, with the Manchester United defender described as being at fault for one of Azerbaijan’s opening goals as they took a 2-0 lead inside the first six minutes, which Sweden did not bounce back from.

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Lindelof lost the ball right in front of the penalty area, causing Sweden to concede

Fotbol Skanalen described the defeat as a ‘spectacular fiasco’, losing to a team classified 120th in the FIFA World Rankings.

The outlet criticised Lindelof for losing the ball just outside the penalty area early in the match, leading directly to a goal.

Lindelof was given a 1/5 in the outlet’s player ratings, which noted: “The captain put his team in a tough spot when he conceded 1-0 to Azerbaijan early on. An unusually weak international match by the centre back.”

The defender saw plenty of the ball, making 106 touches in total, but it was totally ineffective as his side lost 3-0. Lindelof won only one tackle, and just two of six aerial duels.

Swedish writer Olof Lundh wrote: “I can’t remember the last time Sweden made such a weak effort.”