NORWAY Under-17s captain Thomas Rekdal says it was an amazing experience to lead out his country at Burton Albion.
Rekdal twice wore the armband for Norway in Burton, first in a fine 2-1 victory over Sweden a week last Monday, where the nephew of former Norwegian international Kjetil Rekdal scored twice to secure victory for his side having initially seen Norway go 1-0 down.
Norway then played England in a quarter-final, which ended in a 2-0 win for the Three Lions, meaning Norway exited the competition.
Speaking in the mixed zone after that first game against Sweden, which was watched by his senior compatriot and on-loan Brewers midfielder Martin Samuelsen, Rekdal spoke of his pride at captaining his country.
"It’s a big honour for me and I want to lead by example," said Rekdal.
"What else can I say? It’s an honour to captain this team.
"(Playing at Burton Albion was) amazing, amazing. It’s a good pitch and it’s a very nice stadium."
Rekdal's two goals against Sweden proved key as his side topped Group B, a point clear of their opponents at Burton the previous Monday.
The Fredrikstad FK midfielder hit a superb rising effort from the edge of the box to restore parity before placing a neat free-kick to the bottom-right corner in the second half.
"Against Sweden I made a mistake for the first goal, so of course it was nice to get that (equalising) goal in the first half, then we were square at half-time," Rekdal added.
"It was very important to score the last goal. I think for the first one, it was just about hitting it and hoping for the best!
"For the second goal I saw the keeper was standing central in his goal so I was thinking about whether I bent it over the wall or shot, so I just did it to be honest!"