Striker David Villa scored a superb stoppage-time winner to give Spain a 2-1 victory over Sweden on Saturday and a place in the Euro 2008 quarterfinals. Zlatan Ibrahimovic looked to have earned Sweden a share of the points with a 34th minute equalizer, after Spain had taken a deserved lead on 15 with a clever finish from Fernando Torres. But Villa secured the points with a classy close-range finish on the break in the second minute of stoppage-time. The result gave Group D leader Spain six points from two games and Greece's 1-0 defeat by Russia assured Luis Aragones' team a spot in the last eight. Sweden and Russia, both on three points, will contest the other quarterfinal place when they meet on Wednesday while holder Greece is eliminated. Spain took the initiative early on with Xavi marshaling the midfield and Torres giving fullback Mikael Nilsson some early problems with his surging runs into the area. It came as little surprise when Spain took the lead, Torres getting in front of his man and steering the ball in with the sole of his boot after David Silva had clipped the ball into the area following a corner. Largely deprived of possession, Sweden had to rely on isolated counter-attacks involving Fredrik Ljungberg and Ibrahimovic, although Johan Elmander almost equalized a minute after the Torres goal when he lashed the ball into the side netting. Spain suffered a major setback when experienced center-back Carles Puyol was forced off through injury and replaced by Raul Albiol midway through the half. Sweden responded by upping the pressure on the back four. The tactic paid off 11 minutes before the break when Ibrahimovic controlled an Elmander cross at the second attempt, turned past fullback Sergio Ramos and beat Casillas with an angled shot. Sweden coach Lars Lagerback took Ibrahimovic off at halftime and replaced the lanky striker, who has been suffering a knee problem, with Markus Rosenberg. David Silva and Torres were both denied during a goalmouth scramble and keeper Andreas Isaksson turned a rasping drive from Marcos Senna around the post soon after. – Reuters __
