Fernando Torres put this week’s controversies behind him as fired Spain ahead in the 15th minute but Zlatan Ibrahimovic levelled things up in the 34th minute with a goal that looked to have earned Sweden a share of the points.

That was until Villa, who scored a hat-trick in Spain’s 4-1 win over Russia on Tuesday, struck right at the death to put his side on the brink of the quarter-finals.

The in-form Spanish, now undefeated in 18 games, quickly settled into their passing game and were soon probing the Sweden defence for frailties.

However, apart from an Andres Iniesta shot that went high and wide and a moment of danger when David Silva got in behind the Sweden defence before being closed down, Lars Lagerback‘s side were able to deal with the early Spanish threat.

Sweden‘s success lasted just 15 minutes though before they found themselves a goal down thanks to a well-worked Spain corner.

Xavi played a low ball in towards the front post for David Villa, who in turn found Valencia club-mate Silva on the edge of the box and his cross back in towards the six-yard box was stabbed home by the stretching Torres.

That was only the second goal Torres has scored for his country since 2006 and was the perfect response after a week of speculation suggesting he had had a rift with coach Luis Aragones following his early second-half substitution against Russia.

It had been largely all Spain up until that point, but Sweden proved there were two teams in the contest as they almost fashioned an immediate equaliser to Torres‘ goal.

Veteran forward Henrik Larsson cleverly slipped Johan Elmander through on the right of the area, but the Toulouse forward smashed his shot into the side-netting with only Iker Casillas to beat.

Larsson had a chance of his own in the 22nd minute after being fed by strike-partner Ibrahimovic, but the 36-year-old‘s attempted lob over Casillas sailed over the crossbar.

Ibrahimovic, widely regarded as Sweden‘s chief threat, had been well-marshalled by the Spain backline but the Internazionale striker showed his class as he drew his side level 11 minutes before half-time.

The giant striker raced onto a deep cross from Fredrik Stoor, brought the ball under control and, just as it appeared as though the chance might be lost, he held off the challenge of Sergio Ramos before sliding a low shot past Casillas.

That was Ibrahimovic’s second goal of the tournament following his superb effort against Greece and saw him move to within one of Spain striker Villa.

Like Ibrahimovic, Villa had also been fairly quiet, but the hat-trick hero against Russia brought a save out of Andreas Isaksson in the 37th minute with a 20-yard volley.

Sweden suffered a setback at half-time when Ibrahimovic, who had been an injury doubt leading up to the game due to a knee problem, failed to re-appear for the second half, with Markus Rosenberg taking his place.

Rosenberg had little opportunity to impress in the first 15 minutes of the second half though as the two teams cancelled each other out, and in a bid to shake things up Spain boss Aragones opted to make a double change on the hour-mark with Cesc Fabregas and Santi Cazorla sent into action.

Soon after their introduction Spain had a great chance to take the lead as the Sweden goal survived three near misses in quick succession.

First Silva‘s shot was parried by Isaksson, who then did well to bravely block the follow-up from Villa. The ball was still alive though and, with Isaksson out of position, Torres looked set to slot into an empty net only to see his effort deflected for a corner.

Spain were starting to get the upper hand and Isaksson was again called into action in the 67th minute, diving full-length to turn away Marcos Senna‘s 25-yard drive.

Sweden enjoyed a rare chance in 78th minute when a deep Anders Svensson free-kick cleared the Spain defence and found Petter Hansson at the far post, but the centre-back put his volley across the face of goal.

Spain piled forward in the closing stages in search of the winning goal, but when Isaksson saved Torres‘ low shot in the 89th minute it looked as though the Swedes would be taking a hard-earned point.

However, Villa had other ideas and he raced onto a Joan Capdevila long-ball forward, skipped inside Hansson before coolly slotting home past Isaksson for the winner.