Danes fear Ibrahimovic most
Ajax star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been singled out as Sweden’s biggest dangerman as they prepare to face neighbours Denmark in the clash that will settle Group C at Euro 2004.
Sweden need only to draw tonight to clinch a place in the quarter-finals.
That would leave the Danes and Italians fighting out a complicated mathematical issue to decide who goes through with them.
And it is 22-year-old Ibrahimovic that the Danes fear most. Even, it seems, more than Sweden’s comeback star Henrik Larsson, who blasted two goals against Bulgaria and ran the Italians ragged.
Ibrahimovic, Malmo-born of Yugoslav parents, scored the late equaliser against the Italians with a clever overhead flick and set up such a tight finish in the group.
Denmark coach Morten Olsen said: “He is a great player, tall, quick and can score exciting goals.
“I have followed his progress with Ajax for some time. He is still a young player and like all young players, he has ups and downs. Hopefully, he will have a bad game against us.”
The match has been tainted by accusations from the desperate Italians that the Scandinavian sides will engineer a 2-2 draw.
That would see Italy eliminated and the Swedes and Danes qualify for the last eight.
But Ibrahimovic claims there has been no talk of any deals and insists the Swedes will be going all out for victory.
He said: “This has not been mentioned by any of the players. All we want to do is win the game, there is not even a possibility of anything else.”
Joint coach Lars Lagerback added: “There is no question we would arrange anything. At this level you try to do everything you can to win, it is not in our minds to do anything else.”
If Sweden are to beat the Danes, they will have to do so without Tobias Linderoth, who picked up a one-match suspension after his second yellow card of the tournament in Friday’s 1-1 draw with Italy.
However, joint coach Tommy Soderberg believes the Swedes can manage without the Everton player.
He said: “We’ve got a lot of players who have shown that they want to play and we have a number of possibilities with regards to our starting line-up.”
The likelihood is that either Petter Hansson or Johan Mjallby will be called in as cover, although Brondby defender Andreas Jakobsson will play the anchoring role.
Jakobsson said: “If they want me to play in midfield I have no problems with that since I’ve already played there a number of times.”
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