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Barrling buoyant ahead of Spain showdown

Calle Barrling said Sweden's campaign merited a place in Saturday's final, while Denmark's Søren Randa-Boldt beamed with pride as he reflected on a "fantastic experience" for his players.

Elin Rubensson puts Sweden 2-0 up with a free-kick
Elin Rubensson puts Sweden 2-0 up with a free-kick ©Sportsfile

After a peerless first-half performance, Sweden coach Calle Barrling admitted his side suffered from anxiety as they allowed "delicious" Denmark to take a firm grip on an enthralling finale. Søren Randa-Boldt, meanwhile, reflected on the wealth of experience his players have gained and admitted the result that denied them a place in Saturday's final against Spain was a fair one.

Calle Barrling, Sweden coach 
If you look back to the first qualifying matches we have played ten games, we have won nine of them and only conceded three goals. With that record we deserve to be in the final. Our legs went a bit in the second half and you could tell we weren't there mentally. And Denmark were absolutely delicious, they were very good in the second half.

Our first half is the best we have played since we arrived here. I think the Danes put a lot of people forward and we got a bit anxious with all those long balls and we're not used to Denmark playing long balls. We were a bit surprised. When they got their goal we were a bit nervy.

I think the final will be a very tight game against two even sides; both teams have a lot of good passing in their build-up play. And then it comes down to who is most clinical in the penalty area. It will be a very nice game to watch. Elin's [Rubensson] role is to be smart in the final third. We have other players with other capabilities. Of course its very important to have forwards who score but it is a team sport.

Søren Randa-Boldt, Denmark coach
Sweden were much better than us in the first half and we were one or two steps behind. But after the break we wanted to play higher up the pitch and put them under pressure. It worked well for us and we played really well. I am very proud of the girls; they have done a fantastic job. It is progress to build on because I have the same team next year.

The score is a fair result. They were two goals better than us. Congratulations to Sweden for making it to the final. I think they will win, they are a very good team. But Spain are also very good and two years ago they [many of the players] won the women's Under-17 competition.

This has been a massive experience. We aimed to take control of every game but when the other team is so good it causes problems. Yet in this tournament we did a really good job. The players have gained fantastic experience.

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