Italy reserves down Sweden in friendly

Centre-back Giorgio Chiellini scored the only goal of the game as an Italy second string beat Sweden 1-0 in Cesena in an international friendly on Wednesday.

The world champions struggled to impose themselves on their well-organised opponents, who were missing their star player Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

But if Sweden had something to prove having missed out on World Cup qualification, they did little in this match to suggest they might soon bounce back to past glories from the 1990s.

True to his word, Italy coach Marcello Lippi rang the changes from the near full-strength side that drew 0-0 with the Netherlands on Saturday.

The result was an almost unrecognisable Italy with only Juventus centre-back Chiellini a regular first-team fixture.

But with the other players eager to impress their coach to try to book a ticket to South Africa next year, and with Sweden’s players hoping to make their mark on new boss Erik Hamren, it promised an entertaining game.

And there was but a short wait for the action to begin as former Sunderland forward Tobias Hysen beat the Italian offside trap on 3 minutes only to be denied by Cagliari goalkeeper Federico Marchetti, who made a reaction one-handed save from the Swede’s hurried effort.

Italy were soon in the ascendancy and PSV Eindhoven goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson, formerly of Manchester City, tipped Chiellini’s close range flicked-header over the bar from Antonio Di Natale’s lob forwards.

Isaksson was there again on 20 minutes to parry Di Natale’s shot before Cagliari midfielder Davide Biondini blasted the follow-up wide.

Two minutes later Bolton’s striker Johan Elmander dragged wide his snap-shot from 17 yards as Sweden made a rare foray forwards.

Italy had the lead on 28 minutes when Sampdoria’s Giampaolo Pazzini got above his marker to head on Marco Marchionni’s corner and Chiellini arrived unmarked at the back post to score with a diving header — his second goal for Italy.

The second half saw a raft of substitutions which disrupted the flow of play and ensured that chances were hard to come by.

Villarreal striker Giuseppe Rossi created a yard of space behind the Swedish backline but sent his chip high and wide.

Sweden goalkeeper Isaksson came closest to snatching an equaliser with the last touch of the game when he came up for a corner in a last desperate throw of the dice but his header was off target.