Victor Lindelof admits training at Manchester United can "get hot".
The Sweden defender was reacting to the England bust-up between Raheem Sterling and Joe Gomez last Monday. Manchester City attacker Sterling missed England's 7-0 Euros qualifying win against Montenegro on Thursday at Wembley after he was dropped for the infamous altercation with the Liverpool defender at St George's Park. Sterling was back for Sunday's victory in Kosovo.
Meanwhile, United defender Lindelof was asked about the incident while on international duty with Sweden. Interestingly, the defender hinted at tension in training sessions - though insisted he would never consider discussing such issues in the public arena.
Lindelof was quoted by Sportbladet: "I heard that something had happened, I hadn't checked that there had been a dispute between them.
"Obviously there can be a few hot feelings. These are important matches (Liverpool v Manchester City) that they play in the league, but it is clear that when you come to the national team you have to let go of those feelings. You can easily get annoyed at training, it is perfectly understandable that it can be so."
Lindelof insists such tension between teammates can be a positive in training sessions.
He explained, "Sometimes it can be a little fun with heat.
"But it is still a little hot in the workouts in small team games and that is how it should be.
"I haven't seen anything like that there (at United). And if I had, I would certainly not say so…. It can be a bit tricky in training but what is good is that we at United would settle it right afterwards. It's the same thing in the national team."
Lindelof, despite his calm public persona, also admits he can sometimes be the instigator.
He laughed: "Not always, not always (am I the quiet guy). It happens that I can get started up a little too..."
Lindelof featured in Sweden's victory at Euro qualifying opponents Romania on Friday. The Swedes are set to host the Faroe Islands in their final game of the campaign on Monday evening.
- updated November 18
