Quick Report: Sweden 1-2 Spain

David Villa notched his fourth goal in as many games in second-half stoppage time to give Spain a dramatic 2-1 victory over Sweden in Euro 2008 Group D on Saturday.

Spain went in front on the quarter-hour mark of the first half as a short corner sequence led to David Silva’s pass for Fernando Torres to touch past Sweden goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson.

Sweden came right back and had a couple of opportunities to equalize, but that didn’t come until the 34th minute as Zlatan Ibrahimovic latched onto a cross from Fredrik Stoor, took advantage of a stumbling Sergio Ramos and slid the shot past Iker Casillas to make it 1-1.

Just before the end of the first half, a controversial non-call was made when Johan Elmander crashed into Silva in the penalty area, but referee Pieter Vink chose not to award the spot kick.

On 63 minutes, Spain somehow failed to go in front when Silva’s shot was parried by Isaksson into the path of Villa, who then crossed back into space, only to see the ball cleared out for a corner kick.

Sweden then nearly scored on a rare second-half attack as a free kick to the left post found Petter Hansson, but the defender’s ball across the face of goal was just too strong to find Henrik Larsson.

Then, two minutes into stoppage time, Villa latched onto a long ball from the back and he put a good touch on it to slip it by Isaksson, claiming three points in dramatic style.