Sweden was beaten 3-2 on penalties after 18-year-old Holmberg fired her effort high over the bar in an incredible shootout that saw 14 players take spot-kicks.

Holmberg burst into tears after her miss as she headed back to her team-mates but Sweden hero Ibrahimovic reached out to offer some comfort.

"It was a sad daughter I held in my arms about an hour after the game," Holmberg's father Ola Persson told Swedish radio.

"She is strong and she has received a lot of support from both the team, supporters, friends and relatives, she even got a text message from Zlatan here this morning."

Sweden's record goalscorer for the men's team is part-owner of Holmberg's Stockholm club Hammarby and the 43-year-old messaged the young defender to tell her to take the next penalty, and the next one, and to keep believing in herself.

"The most important thing is that no-one defines a career by those misses; in fact, it's the opposite, you have to grow in those situations," Persson said.