This is what happened, in broad strokes:
The national team captain received questions about Larsson at an initial press conference during the national team's gathering. He replied, among other things, that the midfielder needs to make more vertical passes, in other words, more balls forward.
Larsson did not even get to make a substitute appearance in the 3–1 victory over Azerbaijan in Baku, which he questioned.
I was disappointed and expected something else after the start in Germany. I have played 90 minutes in every match and scored points in two out of three matches. I started well in Germany and hoped to build on what I did there.
"Very sad"
He was also critical of the national team captain's statements about the shortcomings in his game.
It's very sad. Some things should stay within the family. Now it didn't. That's why it's become so big.
It could have stopped there. But ahead of the meeting with Estonia, Larsson chose to leave the squad. The reason given was feelings of a minor injury.
After the 3–0 victory, Tomasson commented on the midfielder's absence and his previous statements about him.
He talked to the medical team. Hugo made the decision to go home.
"Has many feelings"
It's not a weakness that you need to develop when you're 20 years old. He's a young, good player with great potential, but not the only young player. He's a young man, has many feelings. This is big for him. We need to take care of him. We have 23 players in the squad, everyone deserves to play, but not everyone can do it.
Larsson's injury was not severe enough to prevent him from training with his club team a few days later. The speculation about a conflict between Tomasson and Larsson got new fuel.
