European Football

Sweden lose 1-0 to Ukraine in pre-Euro 2008 friendly

17:32 BST, Sun 1 Jun 2008
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Ukraine's Sergei Nazarenko (C) is congratulated by teammates Dmitro Chigrynskiy (L) and Sergei Kravtenko after scoring against Sweden during their international friendly soccer match at Rasunda Stadium in Stockholm June 1, 2008.  REUTERS/Bob Strong (SWEDEN)  (EURO 2008 PREVIEW)

STOCKHOLM, June 1 (Reuters) - A late strike by Sergei Nazarenko gave Ukraine a 1-0 win as Sweden lost its final warm-up game before Euro 2008 on Sunday.

Nazarenko fired a long shot in the 82nd minute straight at substitute keeper Rami Shaaban, who misjudged the ball's direction.

Sweden strikers Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrik Larsson played together up front for the first time since the 2006 World Cup and the pair delighted the homecrowd with some stunning plays in the first half.

Ibrahimovic, who has battled a knee injury this season and who has not scored for Sweden since 2005, nearly ended his national team goal drought in the 30th minute with a shot that Ukraine keeper Andrei Pjatov only just saved with his feet.

"Right now all I'm thinking about is my knee. Sooner or later the goals will come," Ibrahimovic told TV3 after the match.

"Me and 'Henke' are commmunicating well, the whole team is working well. It's a shame I didn't put in the ball," added the Inter Milan forward, who played his first match for Sweden since the 2-1 Euro qualifying win over Latvia in November.

Sweden are grouped with Spain, Greece and Russia at the European championships in Austria and Switzerland, which begin on June 7.

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