It’s goalless at the break between Spain and Sweden, but the hosts should be ahead after huge opportunities fell to Olmo and Morata. They have dominated the opening half, with Sweden sitting deep and defending, allowing their opponents to have the ball in midfield. Olsen have been busy in the Sweden goal, making a couple of excellent saves to deny Olmo. However, Morata had the best chance when he only had the keeper to beat, but he fired it wide. Sweden did manage to catch their opponents out at the back right at the end of the half, when Isak sneaked in behind, but Llorente cleared the danger.
45′ + 1′ HALF-TIME: SPAIN 0-0 SWEDEN
45′ There will be a minimum of one minute added time played at the end of the first half.
44′ Save! Olmo finds time and space on the edge of the penalty area and fires a good effort towards goal, which swerves in the air and forces Olsen into making a good stop.
43′ Sweden have only kept one clean sheet in their last 12 encounters with Spain – it was in a European Championship qualifier back in October 2006 (2-0, goals from Johan Elmander and Marcus Allback). Incidentally, this was also Sweden’s last victory against La Roja.
41′ CHANCE! First opportunity for Sweden and what a chance it was! It comes out of nowhere and falls to Isak, who gets in behind, flicks it past Laporte and fires an effort towards goal, which seems to be heading wide, but Llorente tries to clear it and it strikes the post, before flying into the thankful arms of Simon.
40′ There isn’t long left to play before the end of the first half, can either side break the deadlock before the half-time whistle?
38′ CHANCE! Morata with a huge opportunity to put Spain ahead! Danielson loses the ball deep inside his own half and Alba picks it up and plays it through to the striker, who only has Olsen to beat. However, he places his effort narrowly wide of the bottom right post.
37′ Sweden win their first corner of the game after Larsson’s deep cross has to be flicked over the crossbar by Simon. However, the set piece is well defended by Spain and they clear the danger.
35′ Berg manages to sneak behind Torres for the first time in the match and he wins a throw-in deep inside the Spain half for his side.
33′ Sweden may want to look at bringing another midfielder onto the pitch, to try and stop Spain from having so much possession, as their front two haven’t been involved at all and it’s a waste to have two strikers on the pitch if they are just sitting deep and defending.
31′ We’re past the half an hour mark now and it remains goalless between Spain and Sweden. However, the hosts are on top and should be ahead.
29′ CHANCE! Koke finds space in the box and has time to pick his spot as a cross is whipped into the box from the left wing by Olmo. However, the Atletico man gets too much on the shot and it flies high over the crossbar. He should have done better there.
27′ The pace of the game is quite slow at the moment, Spain aren’t showing a great deal of urgency to push forward and find the opening goal. Meanwhile Sweden look pretty content and happy with how the game is going.
25′ Spain have lost only two of their last 16 games at the European Championships (W11 D3) with those two defeats coming in their last two matches (vs Croatia & Italy, June 2016).
23′ Not too far away! Spain once again work the ball well down the left wing and Alba races into the box and lays it back to Koke, who fires a shot towards the bottom right corner of the net. However, he strikes it with the outside of his foot and it flies just wide of the post.
21′ It looks like Sweden will try and break forward on the counter-attack or test Spain at set pieces, this may be their best option to try and get on the scoresheet.
19′ Sweden are yet to get anywhere near the Spain final third at the moment, with Simon a spectator in goal so far. It could be a long evening for the Swedes if they are constantly chasing the ball.
17′ The Swedes just let their pressure drop then and it didn’t take much for Spain to open them up and carve out an excellent chance in front of goal. An early warning.
16′ SAVE! Olmo goes close to firing Spain into the lead! It’s a brilliant cross into the penalty area from the right wing by Koke and Olmo gets ahead of his marker at the near post and powers a header towards the bottom right corner of the net. However, Olsen makes a terrific diving save to deny him.
15′ The front two for Sweden, Berg and Isak have hardly touched the ball so far, they are currently sitting deep inside their own half defending.
13′ Despite their dominance in the opening few minutes, Spain haven’t yet opened the Sweden defence up and carved out an opportunity, with Olsen still untested.
11′ Spain have won only one of their last five opening matches at a major tournament, World Cup and Euro combined (1-0 v Czech Republic, Euro 2016)
9′ Alba has done well for Spain so far down the left wing, the defender is captain today as Busquets is unavailable and he has constantly been up and down the flank looking dangerous.
7′ Olmo fires the first shot of the game high over the crossbar, after Sweden fail to clear the danger from a corner and the ball falls nicely to the winger, but it doesn’t trouble Olsen.
5′ Good defending from Sweden! The hosts work the ball into the final third and get into a good position to create an opportunity, but Sweden close them down quickly and force them back.
3′ Spain with the early possession here, they are keeping it well in midfield as you would expect and they are forcing Sweden to sit deep and soak up the pressure.
The teams are out on the pitch and kick-off is just a few minutes away, stay tuned for all the match action!
The Swedes are missing Dejan Kulusevski and Mattias Svanberg due to positive tests. However, they still start with a strong line-up, as Larsson captains the side and Alexander Isak and Marcus Berg start up front.
Spain are missing their captain Sergio Busquets after he tested positive for COVID-19, so Rodri takes his place in midfield alongside Koke and Pedri. Meanwhile Simon gets the nod in goal ahead of De Gea and Laporte makes his competitive debut for his country.
SWEDEN SUBS: Filip Helander, Pontus Jansson, Viktor Claesson, Karl-Johan Johnsson, Pierre Bengtsson, Robin Quaison, Ken Sema, Jordan Larsson, Emil Krafth, Jens Cajuste, Kristoffer Nordfeldt, Gustav Svensson.
SWEDEN (4-4-2): Robin Olsen; Mikael Lustig, Marcus Danielson, Victor Lindelof, Ludwig Augustinsson; Sebastian Larsson, Albin Ekdal, Kristoffer Olsson, Emil Forsberg; Marcus Berg, Alexander Isak.
SPAIN SUBS: Thiago, David De Gea, Gerard Moreno, Adama Traore, Eric Garcia, Pablo Sarabia, Mikel Oyarzabal, Cesar Azpilicueta, Jose Gaya, Diego Llorente, Robert Sanchez, Fabian Ruiz.
SPAIN (4-3-3): Unai Simon; Marcos Llorente, Aymeric Laporte, Pau Torres, Jordi Alba; Rodri, Koke, Pedri; Ferran Torres, Alvaro Morata, Dani Olmo.
The most recent meeting between these two sides came back in October 2019, when they drew 1-1. The other two sides in the group faced off earlier today, with Slovakia beating Poland 2-1.
The 2008 and 2012 competition winners kick-off their campaign today, looking to improve on their last-16 finish in 2016, however, they are in a tough group and face a difficult test against Sweden today. The two sides faced each other in qualifying campaign for the tournament, with Spain finishing top and unbeaten, while Sweden were the runners-up, suffering just one defeat, which came against Spain.
Hello and welcome to our LIVE match commentary of the Euro 2020 Group E clash between Spain and Sweden in Seville.
