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Alexander Isak has earned rave reviews after having a hand in four of Sweden’s five goals against Tunisia.
The Liverpool striker had a better night than his manager Graham Potter, who came away from the 5-1 demolition job with a bloodied ear.
Isak scored one, assisted two others, and dragged the goalkeeper out of position for Yasin Ayari’s belting opener in an inspired performance.
His goal, on the breakaway half an hour in, saw Isak dash from the halfway line, cut inside, and place the ball in the far corner from the edge of the area.
Swedish outlet Sportsbladet declared that Isak ‘dominated’ on his way to winning the man of the match prize.
Meanwhile, Goteborgs-Posten said that Isak is ‘back’ after an injury-riddled year at Liverpool, where he scored four goals having signed for £125million from Newcastle.
Alexander Isak was man of the match as Sweden battered Tunisia 5-1 in the World Cup
Graham Potter (left) sustained ear damage during the match: ‘Someone tore me or bit me’
Isak himself was understated in his assessment of his performance, saying: ‘A bit like the rest of the team – good.
‘We score a goal fairly early, which makes it easier to play football after that.
‘The plan was that we [Viktor Gyokeres and I] could be the difference and counter. Do maximum actions and then recover a bit. It worked well.
‘You’ve been nagging us to get more out of it, but I think we’re doing well. Playing well together doesn’t necessarily mean we’re playing tiki-taka with each other or assisting each other. The most important thing is that we contribute to the team.’
One man who will be hoping for recovery is manager Potter, who came away from the encounter wounded.
At some point during the match, Potter’s pristine right ear took on a more grisly look.
‘I don’t know what happened,’ he said. Someone tore me. Or bit me. I’ll have to analyse the video footage.’
Quickly moving on from aural questions, he added: ‘I think it was a fantastic evening for us, a fantastic start.
‘A solid performance that taught Alex and Viktor to show their qualities, which they did.
‘We were defensively stable, got goals from midfield, and the substitutes made good substitutions.’
