Larsson brace sees Sweden past Croatia

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Sebastian Larsson starred for Sweden in their well deserved 3-1 win over Croatia in their international friendly today. Ibrahimovic scored the first goal in the 13th minute from the penalty spot after Croatian goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa tackled Rasmus Elm. Croatia levelled in the 44th minute through Jonas Olsson, who accidentally lobbed his own goalkeeper. Sebastian Larsson then put the match beyond doubt with a second-half double. "It was a good game. We played against a very good team, we are very happy and hope that we can continue (playing) like this in the games to come," Ibrahimovic said. Asked about Sweden's chances at the UEFA EURO 2012 Ibrahimovic said: "We'll do our best like any other team and you can never know what can happen at EURO, but we hope for the best. For sure we will prepare and hope to go as far as possible." Sweden have been paired alongside England, France and co-hosts Ukraine in Group D at the UEFA EURO 2012, which runs between 8 June and 1 July in Poland and Ukraine. Croatia coach Slaven Bilic said that his opponents played a hard-fought and organised game. "In the first half we were OK, but in the second we deteriorated. Simply we were not good. Notably in the second half when we were much slower," Bilic said. Croatia have been drawn in Group C at the EURO 2012 and will face defending champions Spain, Italy and the Republic of Ireland. Their biggest success on the international stage was a third-place finish at the 1998 FIFA World Cup™ in France.