Sweden, Ukraine take first leg wins
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| AFP |
European football paid tribute to the victims of attacks in UEFA EURO 2016 hosts France during Saturday's qualifying play-offs, which saw Sweden edge Denmark 2-1 and Ukraine beat Slovenia 2-0 in first leg ties.
A minute's silence was observed before Saturday's games for victims of the Paris attacks on Friday, one of which was outside the Stade de France where world champions Germany were playing a friendly against France. In Solna, Paris Saint-Germain star Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his ninth goal in as many qualifiers as Sweden took a slight advantage over 1992 champions Denmark.
Ibrahimovic converted a second half penalty after Emil Forsberg had scored his first international goal on the stroke of half-time. But substitute Nicolai Jorgensen grabbed an away-goal lifeline for Denmark tenminutes from time ahead of the second leg in Copenhagen on Tuesday.
A backheel from Jimmy Durmaz allowed Mikael Lustig to sprint away down the right flank and his pass reached Forsberg at speed and the Leipzig winger buried a first-time shot into the corner past Kasper Schmeichel. The Denmark goalkeeper rescued his team just before the half-time whistle with a diving save to deny Ibrahimovic's power-packed free-kick from just outside the box.
Ibrahimovic made it 2-0 five minutes into the second period, converting a penalty after Thomas Kahlenburg had tripped Forsberg. It was the 34-year-old's first goal against the Danes in seven matches. But with ten minutes left, substitute Jorgensen latched onto a Yussuf Poulsen flick-on from an Eriksen corner to boost Denmark's hopes of making the finals in France next summer.
Ukraine sink Slovenia
Earlier Ukraine took a comfortable 2-0 lead over Slovenia in Lviv as Andrei Yarmolenko and Yevhen Seleznyov scored in either half of a bad tempered clash at the packed 65,000-seat Lviv Arena. Ukraine, who have lost all five of their previous qualifying play-offs for major tournaments, dominated early but Samir Handanovic proved solid in the Slovenian goal in the opening 20 minutes.
But in the 22nd minute Yarmolenko picked up a rebound after Handanovic failed to clear Yevhen Konoplyanka's cross and slotted inside the far post with a low shot. Slovenia poured into attack and midfielder Josip Ilicic missed a clear chance to level after 27 minutes.
After the break, Ukraine continued to press forward and in the 54th minute Seleznyov got the second with a close range shot off an Artem Fedetskiy cross.