Second-half goals From Fredrik Ljungberg, Olof Mellberg and Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave the Scandinavians a vital three points to keep them in the top two in Group 8 with six wins from their seven matches.

However, Bulgaria, who had Blagoj Georgiev sent off shortly after the interval, saw their slim dreams of qualifying disappear with the nation now 10 points behind Sweden in the standings.

The visitors were without suspended striker Dimitar Berbatov while midfielder Anders Svensson was the only absentee for Sweden because of a knee injury.

And the hosts looked to have made the perfect start when Henrik Larsson headed a neat pass from Ibrahimovic into the back of the net with just four minutes on the clock.

However, joy quickly turned to disappointment for the Rasunda crowd with referee Frank de Bleeckere of Belgium adjudging the Barcelona striker to be offside.

Twelve minutes later, the Bulgarians found themselves under more pressure with Tobias Linderoth’s free-kick finding an unmarked Ibrahimovic, who powered a header goalwards to force a diving save from keeper Dimitar Ivankov.

In Berbatov’s absence, Bulgaria struggled to find an opening with free-kicks from Stilian Petrov and Martin Petrov the best chances of the early stages.

But after 34 minutes, Sweden keeper Andreas Isaksson was called into action, superbly tipping a Martin Petrov strike away from the top left corner to deny the visitors an opening goal.

Just as Hristo Stoichkov’s men were starting to find their feet however, Bulgaria found themselves down to 10 men at the start of the second half when Georgiev was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge on Ljungberg.

The Bulgaria coach immediately made his feelings known to referee De Bleeckere and promptly found himself sent from the dugout for his outburst.

With Georgiev banished from the field, cracks once more began to show in the Bulgarian side and Sweden were able to capitalise after 60 minutes when Ljungberg picked up a short ball from Larsson before turning and sweeping the ball between the legs of Ivankov for the opening goal.

Bulgaria recovered well from the blows and 10 minutes later another free-kick from Martin Petrov almost caught Isaksson off guard, with the Rennes keeper again denying the visitors with a last-ditch save.

However, the hosts proved too strong and after 75 minutes captain Mellberg, celebrating his 28th birthday, headed home Sweden’s second from a Linderoth free-kick.

And the win was sealed in injury time with Larsson heading the ball across the area to Ibrahimovic, who scored from close range with a bicycle kick.