Arsenal’s three Swedes have been knocked out of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup at the semi final stage following a narrow defeat to Spain.

After a tight and cagey eighty minutes that saw Amanda Ilestedt and Stina Blackstenius feature for Sweden, Spain took the lead through Salma Paralluelo, who managed to get to the ball in between two defenders (one of whom was Arsenal's Ilestedt) and fire it into the corner.

Sweden called to their bench to try and find an equaliser, and Arsenal’s Lina Hurtig was called upon with three minutes of normal time remaining. Hurtig could not have made a more immediate impact, doing well to get her head to a deep cross in order to set up fellow substitute Rebecka Blomqvist to level the score.

Spain however were not done yet, going straight up the other end and Olga Carmona found the winner in eye-catching style, blasting a shot in off the underside of the crossbar after a corner just two minutes after Sweden had equalised.

The 2-1 defeat meant that Sweden would fail to reach just their second Women’s World Cup final despite a promising tournament. Arsenal’s first summer signing Amanda Ilestedt scored three headers in the group stage and then netted against Japan in the quarter final, as well as proving to be a steady and composed centre back.

Blackstenius arguably struggled for clear-cut chances, leading the line for Sweden with Kosovare Asslani playing in a slightly deeper role. Sweden’s main goal threat, as exemplified by Ilestedt, came from set pieces, and Blackstenius only found the net once, against Italy in the group stage.

The highlight of Lina Hurtig’s tournament will surely be her winning penalty against the USA that crossed the line by the barest of margins. The Arsenal forward started every one of Sweden’s games on the bench but was used in five of the six matches.

Sweden will play either Australia or England in the third place playoff on Saturday.