Petersen's 'crazy' day for Denmark

Stina Petersen was the star of the big opening UEFA Women's EURO 2013 encounter as she saved two second-half penalties to give Denmark a 1-1 Group A draw with hosts Sweden.

Petersen spoke to UEFA.com about "a crazy game" in which Mariann Gajhede Knudsen's opener for Denmark was cancelled out by Nilla Fischer before both Lotta Schelin and Kosovare Asllani were denied from the spot. Knudsen hailed the result and the atmosphere, but Fischer and team-mate Caroline Seger were frustrated by their defending.

Stina Petersen, Denmark goalkeeper & player of the match
It was a crazy game. I think we had good possession. It was a very tight game so 1-1 was OK. We knew they were coming. We knew that's what they wanted to do. We just tried to play out of it and then we tried with some long balls. So we were prepared.

[My performance] was OK! I saved two penalties, it was crazy, I'm still shaking. I just chose the side, the first was a good penalty. In the second I don't remember what happened, I just took the right side again and it was easy to save,

It was cool to be a part of the game and I think all the girls did really well so I'm just happy now. We're entering the tournament with one point and that's OK. They were pressurising a lot and had a lot of corner kicks and free-kicks.

Mariann Gajhede Knudsen, Denmark goalscorer
It feels good. They had two penalties that they missed. In that sense we can only be happy with a draw. [The penalty saves] were incredible. The second one I think she even held on to. Fantastic.

It was a lot of fun. I haven't played in an atmosphere like this in a long time, so we just enjoyed it. This was just what he hoped for. If we had known before the match that we'd get 1-1 we'd have been overjoyed. So that's what we are now.

Nilla Fischer, Sweden goalscorer
It was an opening match. We couldn't hold the ball so much, made some bad passes. I think we let Denmark play quite a bit, but we knew they were good. It's good to have a point. I think we ought to have won, but it's an opener and it's over now which feels good.

A penalty kick should be scored, that's why I feel we ought to have won. It was an evenly fought match. Denmark are dangerous going forward, but we were better in the second half than in the first, and we're dangerous at set pieces. Considering the penalties we ought to have had three points.

[On her goal] I'm very confident now. It was a good free-kick from 'Thunis' [Sara Thunebro]. I feel very focused every time we have a set-piece, so if the ball falls to me then I have the confidence to score.

It didn't work very well for me defensively today. I did OK, but on their goal I failed to make any sort of decision. I ought to have closed her down and not just believed that she would go one way. I can improve that for next match.

Caroline Seger, Sweden midfielder
It's good to have [the opener] over and done finally. Good to get one point from it. Perhaps it should have ended differently since we got two penalties. But one point is more than none.

We couldn't get our defence to work. We played too individually there and had to run an extreme amount. What we can take as a positive is that we managed to change the look of the match. They scored first but we managed to get a goal and get back into the match. There are some things to analyse ahead of the next match.

It didn't feel all that bad. Denmark are a good team, which we knew beforehand. Naturally it's never fun to be trailing but it's a strength to turn it around like we did today.