Freddie Ljungberg played the full 90 minutes as Sweden began their Euro 2008 campaign with a deserved 2-0 victory against holders Greece on Tuesday night.
Ljungberg, looking lively in his most familiar left-wing role, was making his first start since limping out of West Ham United's home match against Newcastle United on 26 April with a rib injury. He returned to action for the Scandinavian nation in their 1-0 warm-up defeat by Ukraine on 1 June but, wearing a special protective guard, was able to stay on for the full match in a noisy stadium in Salzburg.
The Group D contest was the last of the opening round of fixtures at the European Championship being staged jointly by Switzerland and Austria. Greece quickly showed they were more than content to adopt again the defensive approach that had taken them all the way in Portugal four years ago. Sweden had their moments in the first half though, notably when captain Ljungberg exquisitely picked out Zlatan Ibrahimovic for a flicked header that just cleared the crossbar.
It was a similar story of Greek defending and Swedish probing in the second half, until a moment of magic from Ibrahimovic saw him fire in an unstoppable shot from 20 yards in the 67th minute. Ljungberg then had a major hand in the second five minutes later. Showing good fitness into the closing stages, he found space in the penalty area before receiving the ball and firing in on goal. The effort was blocked but from the resulting scramble, Petter Hansson forced the ball over the line.
Sweden, also featuring 36-year-old midfielder Niclas Alexandersson who made eight appearances for West Ham United in 2003, are next in action on Saturday evening against Spain. The Spanish are among the tournament favourites, having begun their own Group D campaign earlier on Tuesday with a resounding 4-1 defeat of Russia, who Sweden conclude their group campaign against on 18 June..