GiveMeSport
·26 July 2022
GiveMeSport
·26 July 2022
Sweden are blessed with a number of exceptional players but few are more important to the side than Fridolina Rolfo.
The Barcelona star can operate as a forward, in midfield or in defence, though she has mostly featured as a winger for Sweden of late.
With England preparing to face Sweden in the semi-finals at Euro 2022, they must find a way of dealing with the impressive Rolfo.
The 28-year-old has netted once already in the tournament and while she did attract some criticism for her performance against Belgium in the quarter-finals, she nonetheless has the potential to cause the Lionesses huge problems.
Here’s some more info on the versatile Swede:
Rolfo spent much of her youth career at Swedish teams, including Jitex and Linköping.
While at Linköping, Rolfo scored a hat-trick on her Women’s Champions League debut against Liverpool.
This led to interest from a number of European clubs and the Swede made the switch to Germany in 2017 –– signing for Bayern Munich.
After 24 goals in 51 appearances for Bayern, current Frauen-Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg came calling.
Rolfo won three trophies during her time at Wolfsburg, including one Frauen-Bundesliga title and two DFB-Pokal Frauen cups.
After her contract expired in June 2021, Rolfo signed a two-year deal with Barcelona.
The 28-year-old operated at left-back for the majority of the season but still managed to score 13 goals in all competitions.
Barcelona stormed to victory in the Primera Division without losing a game but narrowly missed out on winning the Champions League –– losing 3-1 to Lyon in the final.
Rolfo has come agonisingly close to winning silverware with Sweden on a number of occasions.
In 2016, she was part of the Sweden team that finished runners-up at the Olympics, though she suffered a tournament-ending injury in the final.
Then, in 2019, she scored her first World Cup goal as Sweden finished third.
Last year, Sweden finished as runners-up at the Olympics again, with Rolfo scoring three goals in five matches.
Sweden are the highest ranked team left in the competition (2nd) but face tournament hosts England in the semi-finals.
The Lionesses have won every match so far and thrashed Norway 8-0 during one of their group stage games.
It’s Sarina Wiegman’s side who enters the match as slim favourites but Sweden have a habit of turning up in big matches and the result could well depend on whether Rolfo can make a decisive impact.