3 days ago
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England and Chelsea defender Lucy Bronze is ready to set friendships aside ahead of the Lionesses quarter-final showdown with Sweden on Thursday.
With a place in the final four at stake, the occasion will see Bronze and her England teammates battle a Sweden team featuring the right-back's clubmates Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Nathalie Björn.
The trio have combined to great effect at club level, helping the Blues complete a domestic treble last season in what was Bronze's first back in English football since swapping Manchester City for Barcelona in 2022.
Thursday will see them line up on opposite sides of the pitch and Bronze admits she is looking forward to going up against them.
“Johanna’s the person I get on with the best at Chelsea, said Bronze. “She's one of my best friends there and I play next to Nathalie Bjorn as well so I’m very familiar with the both of them.
“They’ve both had fantastic tournaments so far and the thing with Johanna is her mindset. It’s something people say about myself.
“She’s very competitive and I've seen that last season at Chelsea.
“When she puts on that Sweden shirt it’s the same, she’ll run through a brick wall for her team.
“Hopefully she’s on the other side to me.
“She’s a pacey player and they’ve done very well but if we stick to our jobs and our roles, we’ll be able to play a good game.”
England and Sweden have history at the Euros, with their semi-final match-up in 2022 immortalised after a 4-0 win for the Lionesses en route to lifting the trophy at Wembley.
The teams most recently went head-to-head in qualifying for this summer's tournament, with both occasions ending in a draw and will cross paths again after Sweden topped Group C and England finished behind France in Group D.
“The teams are very different and have moved on,” added Bronze. “For us, [2022] is a nice memory to look back on but we can hardly analyse that game because it was so long ago.
“Sweden are a team who do really well in tournaments, and I can’t imagine they'll be focused on one defeat many years ago.”
Head coach Sarina Wiegman added: “Of course they’ve had a very good group stage with the three wins they had but we’re in a very good place too and we’re ready to go.
“Hopefully we can show that tomorrow.”
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