It was a perfect end to the season for Granqvist who had a hard time in the club team Helsingborgs IF.

- I am incredibly happy, relieved and proud. It has been a difficult season for my own part with a lot of injuries that have disturbed me, but the goal was to stay with HIF in allsvenskan and go to the European Championships next summer and I succeed, and we, with, Granqvist tells SVT Sport.

After the turn of the generation and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's exit after the failed European Cup playoffs in France in the summer of 2016, the national team has built new.

"We can do things no one expects"

- This gang is absolutely fantastic, we do not stop surprised. We can climb mountains, we can do things no one expects. I am incredibly happy, proud and grateful to be able to join this gang. I'm really looking forward to next summer's European Championships.

The joy and cohesion within the group is evident.

- We have fun together. These are the key words Janne and the leadership team have had, that we should do this together and everyone is equally important. I know myself, who has been with me for a long time and sat on the stand and been a replacement for many years, you can be quite angry and frustrated. But it is important to show the guys who play support, and we really do in this national team. Everyone is involved, everyone is involved and knows their roles, says Granqvist.

You were in the World Cup quarterfinals, how do you rank this?

- The World Cup was obviously even bigger so far, but I hope the European Championships will be even better. That we get past the quarterfinals and all the way. We can wait and see but right now the World Cup is a little bigger than this, but I am very happy and proud to be able to join a championship.

HIGHLIGHTS: Here Sweden secures the European Championships against Romania

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Here Sweden handles the European Championship ticket against Romania Photo: Bildbyrån