Sweden 1-2 Spain

Jun 15 2008 Mark Guidi At St Jakob Park

DEADLY strike pair David Villa and Fernando Torres reproduced the form that tore Russia apart in midweek to seal Spain's place in the quarter-finals. Sweden looked set to grind out a vital point when Zlatan Ibrahimovic cancelled out Torres' early opener.

But Villa grabbed a dramatic injury-time winner to secure a last-eight spot and keep the Spaniards top of Group D.

Their victory left the hard-working Swedes heartbroken and Henrik Larsson and Co now need a draw against Russia in their last game to go through.

Spain knocked the ball about well early on and gave their opponents the runaround.

Sweden rarely had possession and on the rare occasions they got the ball couldn't do anything with it.

The Spaniards were playing with confidence after their 4-1 win against Russia and it was no surprise when they took the lead in 15 minutes.

Spain took a short corner and worked the ball to David Silva on the edge of the box. He sent a cross into the danger area and Torres reacted like lightning to prod the ball past Andreas Isaksson.

It was a deserved lead and it looked as though Luis Aragones' men would score more against inferior opposition.

But Spain tended to over elaborate and ended up in too much of a comfort zone.

They had some lovely touches but never tested Isaksson.

Sweden are known for their fighting spirit and displayed it once again when Ibrahimovic levelled in 34 minutes.

Fredrik Stoor overlapped down the right and sent in a cross for the strikers to attack.

Former Celtic star Larsson was in the danger area as usual and managed to take two defenders out of the game.

That helped the ball find its way to Ibrahimovic at the back post but he had Sergio Ramos for company.

However, the Inter Milan hitman managed to turn the Real Madrid star before firing under Iker Casillas.

There wasn't a lot of power in the shot and Casillas should have done better.

Spain should have been out of sight by that stage and were raging with Dutch ref Pieter Vink when he denied them a penalty on the stroke of half-time.

Silva was about to head an effort on goal but was barged to the deck by a clumsy Johan Elmander challenge.

The Swedish winger was lucky he didn't concede a spot-kick and Elmander didn't have the best of nights.

He also blasted a great chance into the side-netting at 1-0 when he should have pulled the ball back to Ibrahimovic for a tap-in.

There must have been some serious words spoken by Aragones at half-time.

After the break Villa looked much more like the striker who bagged a hat-trick against the Russians.

The £25million-rated Valencia star did tend to overdo things though and should have been more willing to shoot on sight.

Casillas was a spectator in the second half but his opposite number was under real pressure as Spain dominated. Aragones brought on Cesc Fabregas for the ineffective Xavi after 59 minutes and also swapped Andres Iniesta for Santi Cazorla of Villarreal.

Arsenal star Fabregas took the tempo up another gear and Isaksson blocked a shot from Villa before taking a knee in the face as he bravely stopped the rebound.

The Swedish No.1 was tested again in 68 minutes when he parried a powerful 20-yard effort from Marcos Senna.

It was a one-sided contest in terms of possession and Sweden weren't helped by the fact a knee injury forced Ibrahimovic off at half-time.

That put more of an onus on skipper Freddie Ljungberg but he failed to deliver - as was the case all season at West Ham.

Sweden mounted a rare attack 11 minutes from time and Larsson was only inches away from scoring as he just failed to get on to a knockdown by Petter Hansson.

Stopper Hansson was then at fault for Villa's late winner.

He should have cleared a routine long ball but failed to connect and Villa slipped in to slot the ball past Isaksson from eight yards.

team sheet

SWEDEN: Isaksson, Stoor, Mellberg, Hansson, Nilsson, Elmander (S Larsson 78), Andersson, Svensson, Ljungberg, H Larsson, Ibrahimovic (Rosenberg 46). Subs: Shaaban, Wiland, Majstorovic, Alexandersson, Linderoth, Granqvist, Kallstrom, Allback, Wilhelmsson, Dorsin.

SPAIN: Casillas, S Ramos, Marchena, Puyol (Albiol 24), Capdevila, Iniesta (Cazorla 59), Senna, Xavi (Fabregas 59), Silva, Villa, Torres. Subs: Palop, Reina, Fernando Navarro, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Garcia, Guiza, Arbeloa, Juanito, De La Red.