Sweden not counting on easy ‘ticket’ to Euro quarter-finals

Glasgow (AFP) – Sweden may have a golden chance to reach the Euro 2020 quarter-finals on Tuesday as they face Ukraine in Glasgow, but coach Janne Andersson has warned against complacency from his side.

Andersson’s men beat Spain to top spot in Group E with victories over Slovakia and Poland and their reward is a meeting with Andriy Shevchenko’s side, who were the only team to qualify for the last 16 with just three points.

“There is no winning ticket at this stage — every team that is qualified is really good,” said Andersson when quizzed over Sweden’s supposedly easy passage to the last eight.

“You have to take advantage of your chances and do your best to go through.”

Sweden also reached the last eight at the World Cup three years ago and could meet England again in the quarter-finals, should the Three Lions see off Germany in the tie of the round.

The neutrals could be forgiven for paying less attention to the clash at Hampden, but Shevchenko is hoping his side will be back to their best having already achieved their target of making the knockout phase.

Ukraine pushed the Netherlands all the way in a thrilling 3-2 win for the Dutch on the opening weekend of the tournament before beating North Macedonia 2-1 for their first victory at a European Championship since Shevchenko himself scored twice against Sweden in 2012.

A disappointing 1-0 defeat to Austria followed and Ukraine had to wait two days to find out their fate as a best third-placed side.

“We achieved the result we wanted. We have nothing to lose now. Everything else will be a big bonus for us,” said the former Ballon d’Or winner.

“The team played very well the first two games, the third game not everything went as we planned.

“We achieved the result we wanted. Now we have another game to get even more and we’ll do everything we can to achieve a good result.”