On Sunday night, while representing Sweden on international duty, Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof displayed his class by willingly relinquishing the captaincy.

He has captained the Blue and Yellow on 17 occasions since being elected captain in August 2021, after Andreas Granqvist retired. The 29-year-old is still going strong.

But there was a particular reason why the United no. 2 chose to sit out Sweden’s most recent Euro 2024 qualifying match against Estonia. As Albin Ekdal played in his 70th and last international game, he was presented with the armband.

Victor and Ekdal have played together for much of Victor’s Swedish career, and they were on the field again as the Spezia midfielder dutifully celebrated his retirement with a 2-0 victory.

“End of a great journey,” Lindelof frankly stated in an Instagram post. My friend, it has been a privilege ❦.

In Stockholm, Ekdal received a standing ovation upon being substituted for Hugo Larsson at the 72nd minute.

The Friends Arena hosts prevailed 2-0 thanks to goals from Emil Forsberg and Viktor Claesson; Victor regained the armband after playing the entire match.

Coming in third place in their qualification group, Victor and Sweden will unfortunately miss out on next summer’s Euro 2024.

After failing to advance to the European Championship finals for the first time since 1996, head coach Janne Andersson has also decided to stand down.