Euro 2004: Sweden crush Bulgaria 5-0

Lisbon:

Henrik Larsson produced a masterful finishing class to help Sweden kick off their Group C campaign in style by crushing Bulgaria to a humiliating 5-0 defeat in Euro 2004. The departing Celtic striker, who came out of retirement just to play at Euro 2004, produced two moments of magic in the space of a minute to transform an even contest into a one-sided affair. Early lead Sweden took the lead on 32 minutes as Zlatan Ibrahimovic broke the off-side trap and Arsenal's Fredie Ljungberg scored his fourth international goal with the simplest of tap-ins. On 57 minutes, the Bulgarian keeper was left stranded on his goal line as Henrik Larsson put Sweden 2-0 up with a brilliant diving header. Only 30 seconds later, it was 3-0 in favour of Sweden. Larsson stole in at the back post with the Bulgarian keeper nowhere to be found. It was his seventh goal in six games against Bulgaria. Bulgarian woes continue With less than quarter of an hour left, things went from bad to worse for the Bulgarians as Vladimir Ivanov brought Freddies Ljungberg down inside the area and the referee had no hesitation in awarding Sweden a penalty. Zlatan Ibrahimovic showed just why he is being touted as the next big thing as he slotted the ball home to make it 4-0 for Sweden. Deep into second half injury time, goal scorer Larsson turned provider as Marcus Allback made it 5-0. The victory put Sweden in complete control of Group C. Italy and Denmark will probably have to fight it out for the second automatic spot from the group, while the Bulgarians have a lot of lost ground to make up before their next game against Denmark on June 18.

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