Sweden's irrepressible marksman Henrik Larsson led the way with two dazzling goals as his team rampaged to a 5-0 victory over Bulgaria at the Euro 2004 football championship on Monday.
Larsson, recently persuaded to end two years of international retirement, struck twice within 71 seconds in the 57th and 58th minutes, the first a glorious diving header and the second a sliding lunge at the far post.
Midfielder Fredrik Ljungberg had given his side a 32nd minute lead after the Swedes sprung Bulgaria's offside trap.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic added a fourth in the 78th from the penalty spot before substitute Marcus Allback completed the scoring in stoppage time.
Sweden went to the top of Group C on three points ahead of Denmark and Italy, who drew 0-0 earlier, on one each.
Teams:
Sweden (4-4-2): 1-Andreas Isaksson; 2-Teddy Lucic, 3-Olof Mellberg (captain), 15-Andreas Jakobsson, 5-Erik Edman; 7-Mikael Nilsson, 6-Tobias Linderoth, 8-Anders Svensson, 9-Fredrik Ljungberg; 10-Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 11-Henrik Larsson.
Bulgaria (4-4-1-1): 1-Zdravko Zdravkov; 2-Vladimir Ivanov, 18-Predrag Pazhin, 3-Rosen Kirilov, 4-Ivailo Petkov; 13-Georgi Peev, 15-Marian Hristov, 19-Stilian Petrov (captain), 17-Martin Petrov; 21-Zoran Jankovic; 9-Dimitar Berbatov.
Referee: Mike Riley (England)
Linesmen: Philip Sharp (England), Glenn Turner (England).
© 2024 Rediff.com -