THE two big hitters in Scandinavia go head to head in this Euro 2016 decider on Tuesday. Chris Graham (@chrisgraham79) gives us his view.
Denmark v Sweden | Tuesday 19:45 | Sky Sports 1
Well, stats fans like myself took a bashing on this game on Saturday night when Sweden won 2-1 in Solna. It was only the second time in 16 meetings between the sides that both teams had scored.
It appeared that the opening leg swung both ways. Sweden looked to have more of a threat for most of the game and indeed went 2-0 up after 50 minutes.
Denmark though scored a crucial goal in the 80th minute to keep the tie alive and had the Swedes clinging on for dear life near the end of the 90 to set up what should be a superb second leg on Tuesday.
The Danes are 5/4 to win this match but that’s a bit short for me. They still look a side unable to grab matches by the bollocks and come across as a bit meek.
The Danes scored just eight goals in their eight qualifying matches and fired blanks in half of their games. In the pantheon of great Danish sides this one wouldn’t be mentioned in my opinion.
Sweden scored 15 in their 10 game qualifying group and crucially for me scored in all but one of their matches. I think they’ll score and Denmark will then need two to stay in the tie. That could be beyond them.
Another ace in the Swedish pack is the presence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. We saw him score on Saturday night and we saw him turn his performance levels up to max in the World Cup play off second leg against Portugal two years ago.
Ibra will be aware this could be his last dance in the summer sun and surely he’ll do all he can to cajole the Swedes over the line to a place in France next summer.
I’ll back Sweden to avoid defeat here. I’m not sure Denmark are strong enough to take them out on Tuesday night. With Ibra behind them expect the Swedes to go through.
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Denmark v Sweden – Sweden +0.5 (3/4 Coral)
