Familiar foes Sweden and Spain meet at Euro 2008 on Saturday with nothing but mutual respect after locking horns in qualifying. “Sweden are a very difficult side to play against,” Spain coach Luis Aragones told reporters this week. “They play at great pace on the counter-attack and have some excellent forwards. They are definitely a team to worry about.” Opposite number Lars Lagerback expressed similar sentiments about the Spanish before the Group D game in Innsbruck. “We know all about Spain having played them in qualifying,” he said. “They like to keep the ball and are very dangerous in attack. We will have to be patient and play our own game, like we did against Greece. “Spain are a quality team. If some of the players that are sitting on their bench had Swedish passports, I would certainly have them in my team.” Spain finished two points ahead Sweden in qualification although honors were even in head-to-head meetings, the Scandinavians winning 2-0 in Solna in October 2006, but then going down 3-0 in Madrid in November last year. The two sides notched up convincing wins in their opening matches on Tuesday, Spain crushing Russia 4-1 and Sweden beating defending champion Greece 2-0. It means a victory for either side on Saturday would move it to within touching distance of the quarterfinals; with a place in the last eight guaranteed for the victors should Greece's late kickoff against Russia end in a draw. Spain has no significant injury problems and Aragones is likely to stick with the same side that beat Russia. Striker David Villa, who notched a hat trick on Tuesday, suffered a hairline fracture to his right index finger after getting it caught in Fernando Torres' shirt during the celebrations for his opening goal but will be available. Sweden, however, will have to reconstruct its right flank following injuries to Christian Wilhelmsson and defender Niclas Alexandersson. Alexandersson's place is set to go to Fredrik Stoor, who replaced him as substitute against the Greeks, while it is a toss up between Sebastian Larsson and Johan Elmander for Wilhelmsson's berth on the right wing. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who opened the scoring against Greece, has a swollen knee but should be fit enough to start again alongside Henrik Larsson up front. – Reuters __
