Sweden 1
Spain 2
David Villa scored in injury time yesterday to give Spain a 2-1 win over Sweden that moved it to the verge of a place in the quarter-finals of the European Championship.
The match had looked set to end in a draw after Zlatan Ibrahimovic had equalised following Fernando Torres' 15th-minute goal, but a long ball out of defence dropped kindly for Villa and the striker slipped the ball to the left of goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson for his fourth goal of the tournament.
The result leaves Spain with six points in Group D, three more than Sweden.
Torres had put Spain in front when he lunged at a pass by David Silva with his right foot outstretched to intercept and touch it past Isaksson.
Sweden veteran Henrik Larsson had shot over the bar and Johan Elmander, who scored against Spain in a qualifying match for Euro 2008, missed two chances before Fredrik Stoor curled a pass from the right to Ibrahimovic in the area in the 34th. The striker turned away from marker Sergio Ramos and hit a low shot that just made it under goalkeeper Iker Casillas.
Spain could qualify later yesterday when defending champion Greece takes on Russia.
Sweden followed its game plan of staying patient and hitting on the counterattack after Spain had controlled early, with Torres troubling the Swedish area with a mix of darting runs and deft dribbling.
Torres, who was rumored to have been unhappy with his early substitution in Spain's 4-1 opening win over Russia, soon put his team in front. Silva chipped a diagonal pass into the area toward Joan Capdevila, but Torres stuck out his right foot to intercept and touch it in for his first goal of the tournament and 16th overall in 51 appearances for Spain.
Spain replaced centre back Carles Puyol with Raul Albiol in the 24th, apparently because of injury, but still looked comfortable in the face of erratic and disjointed play by Sweden.
Larsson and Johan Elmander had their chances before Stoor found Ibrahimovic at the far post.
Ibrahimovic initially tried to volley Stoor's cross from the right and regained control before shrugging Ramos to the ground. The Inter striker swerved to score with a low right-footed shot that Casillas got a hand to but couldn't keep out.
It was the second straight match in which Ibrahimovic had scored, after he snapped a near three-year scoring drought in a 2-0 victory against Greece.
Markus Rosenberg came on for Ibrahimovic to start the second half, with Sweden not wanting to risk its star player's swollen left knee.
Sweden were caught out late when Capdevila sent a 40-metre (yard) pass over the head of Torres and into the path of Sweden defender Petter Hansson. Hansson lost the ball under pressure from Villa, who calmly scored with an angled shot from just inside the area.
Sweden's Ibrahimovic substituted in second half due to swollen knee
Striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was substituted at halftime after scoring Sweden's equalizer against Spain, leaving with a swollen left knee.
Assistant coach Roland Andersson told Swedish broadcaster TV4 that Ibrahimovic was taken off as a precaution, because keeping him on the field could aggravate the injury.
"It's not so serious," Andersson said. "We want to be careful. We don't want it to get worse."
The Inter Milan striker has complained of swelling in his knee since the start of the tournament.
* * *
Sweden: Andreas Isaksson, Fredrik Stoor, Olof Mellberg, Petter Hansson, Mikael Nilsson, Johan Elmander (Sebastian Larsson, 79), Anders Svensson, Daniel Andersson, Fredrik Ljungberg, Henrik Larsson (Kim Kallstrom, 86), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Markus Rosenberg, 46).
Spain: Iker Casillas, Carlos Marchena, Carles Puyol (Raul Alboil, 24), Joan Capdevila, Sergio Ramos, Marcos Senna, Xavi Hernandez (Cesc Fabregas, 58), Andres Iniesta (Santi Cazorla, 59), David Silva, David Villa, Fernando Torres.
Referee: Vink (Netherlands)
Scorers: Torres (SPain), Ibrahimovic (Sweden), Villa (Spain)