Graham Potter got off to a dream start with Sweden at the World Cup, but said he might have been bitten after being left with a bloodied ear.
Potter was brought in to rescue a dreadful qualifying campaign from Sweden and he got them to the World Cup, where they began their campaign in Monterrey against Tunisia on Sunday.
It could scarcely have gone any better as Yasin Ayari (2), Alexander Isak, Viktor Gyokeres and Mattias Svanberg scored in a 5-1 romp over the African side.
There are tricky tests to come against Netherlands and Japan, who drew 2-2 on Sunday, but Sweden are not in a strong position to reach the knockout stages.
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Amid the celebrations there was some confusion, though, as Potter appeared to be bleeding from his right ear.
The former Chelsea, West Ham and Brighton boss did not sound too bothered about it, but says he may have been bitten by someone!
‘I don’t know what happened. Someone scratched me, or bit me. I’ll have to analyse the video footage,’ he said, via Swedish publication Sportbladet.
Potter was pleased that his potentially deadly strike partnership of Isak and Gyokeres has started the tournament well.
‘I think it was a fantastic evening for us, a fantastic start,’ he said. ‘A solid performance that allowed Alex and Viktor to show their qualities, which they did. We were defensively solid, got goals from midfield and had good substitutions.
‘I’m happy for the players. They’ve worked hard in recent weeks and made strides. All credit to them. As a coach you know when the team is developing, but you also have to win. We weren’t perfect, but we knew we wouldn’t be.
‘I was a little disappointed with the goal we conceded, but that’s what can happen. We were mature in the second half, especially considering we lack experience from the World Cup.’
This is a remarkable turnaround for Sweden after they failed to win a game in their qualification group, finishing bottom behind Switzerland, Kosovo and Slovenia.
A play-off thanks to the Nations League gave Sweden a chance to qualify and they beat both Ukraine and Poland to make it to the main event.
‘We just focus on what we can do, we focus on our performances,’ Potter said after the Tunisia win. ‘It doesn’t matter what people think from the outside or opinions.
‘That’s the beauty of the World Cup everyone has predictions and forecasts but we have to focus on our job and how we play as a team.
‘We will meet another top team at the weekend who are one of the favourites for the competition.’