David Villa scored a dramatic injury time winner as Spain defeated Sweden 2-1 in Euro 2008 Group D on Saturday to book their place in the quarter-finals.
Until then Sweden had seemed set to earn a point from a dogged display after Zlatan Ibrahimovic had cancelled out Fernando Torres’ opener.
“We dominated the opening 20 minutes and deserved to go in front but then we lost our way a bit,” Spain coach Luis Aragones said. “In the second half we were the better side, we had more of the ball, we didn’t create many chances because they defended well but we had some good chances. I think we were the better team.”
Villa added to his burgeoning reputation with his fourth goal of the tournament following his treble against Russia.
Spain enjoyed some success in getting behind the Sweden defence in the early stages but they could only find yellow shirts with their crosses as the Scandinavians remained firm at the back.
However, Spain took the lead with a corner routine of sublime intricacy on 15 minutes.
Villa darted out of the six-yard box to receive a short corner from Xavi and transfered the ball to David Silva, whose marker had been drawn to the ball, on the edge of the area.
Silva crossed and Torres stretched out a leg in front of his marker Petter Hansson to poke the ball home at the near post.
That drew an instant response from Sweden as Johan Elmander took a return pass from Henrik Larsson and burst into the area only to hit the side netting from a tight angle.
Having been on the back foot for most of the opening stages, Sweden now came more into the match and a brilliant through ball from Ibrahimovic over the defense found Larsson’s angled run but, off balance, he lofted his shot over the bar.
Sweden were in the ascendancy and deservedly equalized on 34 minutes through Ibrahimovic, who took down a deep cross from full-back Fredrik Stoor, held off the back-tracking Sergio Ramos and curled home a low shot despite Iker Casillas getting a hand to it.
The game was heading for a draw until right at the death Villa latched onto a stunning long ball from Joan Capdevila to slide the ball past Isaksson and spark the Spanish fans celebrations.
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