Standings
Code:
Teams Pld W D L GF GA Pts
[IMG]http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/imgml/flags/15x15/122.gif[/IMG] Spain 2 2 0 0 6 2 6
[IMG]http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/imgml/flags/15x15/127.gif[/IMG] Sweden 2 1 0 1 3 2 3
[IMG]http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/imgml/flags/15x15/57451.gif[/IMG] Russia 2 1 0 1 2 4 3
[IMG]http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/imgml/flags/15x15/49.gif[/IMG] Greece 2 0 0 2 0 3 0Match background
Russia will be hoping to make it third time lucky when they take on Sweden in their concluding Group D fixture in Innsbruck.
• Despite a proud history in the competition as part of the USSR – notably with the capture of the inaugural UEFA European Championship crown in 1960 – Russia's record as an independent nation is less impressive. They failed to progress beyond the group stage of the continental showpiece in their first two attempts, in 1996 and 2004, and if victory against Sweden is required to advance here, it may not be easy given they have never before beaten the Scandinavian side.
• Another positive omen for Sweden fans is that their last group-stage elimination from a final tournament came at to UEFA EURO 2000™.
• A 90th-minute Zlatan Ibrahimović goal saved Sweden from defeat when the countries last met, in a friendly in Moscow on 21 August 2002. Aleksandr Kerzhakov had opened the scoring with a penalty on 56 minutes prior to Ibrahimović's late intervention.
• The teams that day were:
Russia: Sergei Ovchinnikov (Ruslan Nigmatullin), Gennadi Nizhegorodov (Viacheslav Daev), Yuri Kovtun, Viktor Onopko (Aleksei Smertin (Dmitri Loskov)), Sergei Semak (Denis Popov), Sergei Ignashevich (Nikolai Olenikov), Igor Yanovskiy (Igor Semshov), Rolan Gusev (Ruslan Pimenov), Dmitri Khokhlov (Evgeni Aldonin), Vladimir Beschastnykh (Aleksandr Kerzakhov), Denis Laktionov (Andrei Kariaka).
Sweden: Magnus Hedman (Mattias Asper), Olof Mellberg, Andreas Jakobsson (Michael Svensson), Johan Mjällby (Nils-Eric Johansson), Teddy Lucic, Niclas Alexandersson, Tobias Linderoth, Anders Svensson (Kim Källström), Andreas Andersson, Rade Prica (Pontus Farnerud), Zlatan Ibrahimović.
• Overall, Sweden have recorded three victories and two draws against Russia. The most recent success came in a friendly in Orebro in August 1998, where Jörgen Pettersson scored the only goal.
• The most famous meeting between the countries was in Detroit at the 1994 FIFA World Cup where Sweden won their first-round match 3-1. After Oleg Salenko and Tomas Brolin had struck first-half penalties, Martin Dahlin scored twice in the second period to secure victory for the Swedes.
• Sweden also beat the Soviet Union 2-0 in the quarter-finals of the 1958 World Cup but failed to get the better of the Soviets in qualifying for the 1964 UEFA European Championship, drawing 1-1 at home then going down 3-1 in Moscow.
• Russia boss Guus Hiddink has never before faced Swedish opposition in his long and itinerant coaching career.
• Russia striker Roman Pavlyuchenko was on the scoresheet against Swedish opponents when his FC Spartak Moskva team defeated BK Häcken 5-0 in the first leg of their UEFA Cup first-round tie last September. Fellow internationals Vladimir Bystrov and Roman Shishkin also featured for Spartak, who won the return 3-1 in Sweden.
• Ibrahimović, Sweden's star forward, scored twice past Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev to help his club side FC Internazionale Milano beat Akinfeev's PFC CSKA Moskva 4-2 in a 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage match in Milan. Evgeni Aldonin, Aleksei and Vasili Berezutski also played in a CSKA team who were eliminated that night.
• Another Sweden striker, Marcus Allbäck, was in the FC København lineup that won 1-0 at FC Lokomotiv Moskva in the UEFA Cup group stage on 29 November last year. Russia pair Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Dmitri Sychev appeared on the losing Lokomotiv side.
• This is Russia's third EURO finals as an independent state following earlier appearances in 1996 and 2004. As part of the former Soviet Union, they won the 1960 UEFA European Championship and were runners-up in 1964, 1972 and 1988.
• Sweden are participating in their fourth EURO finals in Austria/Switzerland. Their best performance came in 1992 when they reached the semi-finals on home soil.
