A trip to Italy to face the surprise package of last summer's UEFA Women's EURO presented a very challenging start for a Sweden side who, despite a litany of talented players, were on a five-game winless run.
But a goal midway through the first half from Filippa Angeldahl put the Swedes ahead, before Lundkvist - winning cap number 30 - helped marshall a new-look back four which held out for a first clean sheet and victory since the EURO 2025 Group Stage.
However, there is no respite for Tony Gustavsson's side, who face a second difficult away trip in a few days when they take on Serbia this afternoon (7th March, 16:00 CET), as they aim to remain on maximum points ahead of meetings with rivals Denmark later in their Group A1 campaign.
With only the group winners guaranteed a place at the World Cup in Brazil next summer, a winning start against Italy was key for Manchester United's Lundkvist, who spoke to Flashscore ahead of the Serbia match.
After a few disappointing results, you must be delighted to get three points on the board against Italy?
"Yes, it was very important. You could feel it was giving a lot of energy to the whole squad, so it was an important win."
There was some talk in the build-up to the game about how the centre-back pairing of Bella Andersson and Elma Junttila Nelhage was very inexperienced. Do you, as defenders, use that as extra motivation?
"We don’t really worry about what other people are talking about, because I think we have such a clear idea about how we want to play so, whoever comes in, they know what to do and we know how to help them. So, I think we just wanted to do it more together, I guess, to help each other."
But it must have made the clean sheet a little bit extra special?
"Yes, of course! A clean sheet is always nice but even more nice when it’s the first one in a campaign."
Looking ahead to Serbia, you beat them a couple of times in 2024. What are you expecting from them this time?
"We’re expecting a tough game, we know that they have a lot of good quality players, so we’re ready to be very disciplined in the game and we know what we have to do - and use our strengths - but we know it will be a really hard game, so yeah, we have to be really disciplined and work hard to be able to get the three points."
You’re only 23, but when you’re playing alongside players who have a lot fewer caps than you, are you already starting to feel like one of the more experienced players in the group?
"Yeah, I think this last game was the first where I was the eldest in the back line. So, it’s still a little bit of a new role, but I’m trying to take that on my shoulders as much as I can, to take responsibility and calm the younger players down a bit, maybe. But, if I didn’t know how many caps they had, I would have thought they would have got so many more than what they have - they are really confident girls and they do it so well. So, I don’t have to do too much for them!"
Looking ahead to this qualification campaign - a long way to go, but do you have a clear goal about what you want to achieve personally and also as a team?
"Our main goal is obviously to lift the trophy at the World Cup in 2027. That’s what we’re aiming towards and working towards - personally and as a team. That’s really all we have in mind."
