Euro 2012 Group D: Ukraine 2-1 Sweden

June 12, 2012 • 0 • min read

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Ukraine forward Andriy Shevchenko scores his side's winning goal against Sweden

Photo: AP

Andriy Shevchenko rolled back the years to once again become Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine's hero with his two-goal against Sweden in their Group D opener in Kiev.

Ukraine dominated possession early on but Zlatan Ibrahimović gave Sweden the lead shortly after the break, tapping home a Kim Källström cross while Ukraine left-back Yevhen Selin was down injured.

But three minutes later Ukraine were level with veteran striker Shevchenko grabbing his first just three minutes later, heading in an Andriy Yarmalenko cross past Andreas Isaksson.

That made the stadium explode, and it grew even louder six minutes later as Shevchenko met a corner to head the ball inside the near post and give the co-hosts the lead.

Sweden had numerous opportunities to level the match as they pushed forward late on but the co-hosts held on, to the delight of their fans.

Lineups:

Ukraine: Andriy Pyatov; Oleh Husyev, Taras Mykhalyk, Yevhen Khacheridi, Yevhen Selin; Andriy Yarmolenko, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Yevhen Konoplyanka (Marko Dević,90); Serhiy Nazarenko; Andriy Shevchenko (Artem Milevskiy, 81), Andriy Voronin (Ruslan Rotan, 85)

Sweden: Andreas Isaksson; Mikael Lustig, Olof Mellberg, Andreas Granqvist, Martin Olsson; Rasmus Elm, Kim Källström; Sebastian Larsson (Christian Wilhelmsson, 68), Zlatan Ibrahimović, Ola Toivonen (Anders Svensson, 62); Markus Rosenberg (Johan Elmander, 71)