Wiegman and Gerhardsson to let players do talking in Euros semi-final

The last time Sarina Wiegman met Peter Gerhardsson at the semi-finals of a major tournament she left Sweden’s manager in melancholic mood.

“Empty is the way I feel,” Gerhardsson said after his side’s 1-0 extra-time defeat against a Netherlands team then managed by Wiegman at the 2019 World Cup in France. “Emotionally, I’m just numb.”

Three years on, Sweden’s manager has rediscovered a zest for life and is anxious to atone for that disappointment as his players prepare to face Wiegman’s England at Bramall Lane on Tuesday night with a place in the Euro 22 final at Wembley on Sunday beckoning.

Yet if Gerhardsson – the tournament’s sole surviving male coach – seeks atonement, so, too, does a Lionesses squad aiming for revenge against obdurate opponents they have struggled to deconstruct in recent years.

Indeed as Wiegman’s Netherlands headed towards a 2-0 2019 final defeat against the United States in Lyon, Sweden found the Côte d’Azur sunshine thoroughly restorative as they won the third-place match, beating Phil Neville’s England 2-1 in Nice.

Beforehand, Neville had been so confident of collecting a bronze medal that he joked about buying a special lamp capable of illuminating that prize to best effect in his family home. After a chastening afternoon featuring goals from the influential Kosovare Asllani and Sofia Jakobsson, he dismissed the fixture as a “nonsense” but hurt was writ large on his face.

After all, eight months earlier Neville had blamed Gerhardsson and his players for “ruining my Christmas” after what he described as a “soul-crushing” 2-0 defeat friendly defeat in Rotherham.

A few miles down the road in Sheffield on Tuesday night, Wiegman is burdened by no such historical, or emotional, baggage. After 10