Swedes in shape for Italy contest

Hosts Sweden will face Italy for the first time in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship since the Azzurrini consigned them to second place in the 1992 event.

• Italy defeated Sweden 2-1 on aggregate to capture the U21 crown – the first of their five successes at this level. Yet, looking ahead to this contest in Helsingborg, Sweden's young footballers may prefer to focus on the memory on the teams' most recent meeting just four months ago, when they earned a creditable 1-1 draw in Trieste.

• The Swedes should be high on confidence after the 5-1 opening win they achieved against Belarus in Malmo on Tuesday. Marcus Berg struck a hat-trick for Jörgen Lennartsson and Tommy Söderberg's team, who came from a goal down to achieve the tournament's biggest win since 2000.

• Italy opened their campaign with a goalless draw against Serbia on the same day.

• Overall these Group A rivals have met six times in competitive fixtures, with the Azzurrini winning twice and losing only once.

• The full breakdown is:
1992 final 
28.05.92 Italy 2-0 Sweden, Ferrara
03.06.92 Sweden 1-0 Italy, Växjö

1988 Qualifying Group 2
04.06.87 Sweden 2-2 Italy
12.11.87 Italy 0-0 Sweden, Perugia

1986 Quarter-finals
12.03.86 Sweden 1-1 Italy, Gothenburg
29.03.86 Italy 2-1 Sweden, Bergamo

• In the two-legged final in 1992, Italy claimed a decisive 2-0 first-leg advantage in Ferrara through goals from Renato Buso (69) and Gianluca Sordo (76) on 28 May. Pascal Simpson's 56th-minute goal earned Sweden a 1-0 win in the return in Vaxjo on 3 June but it was not enough for the Scandinavians.

• Sweden's team featured Niclas Alexandersson and Håkan Mild while Demetrio Albertini was at the heart of the Italy side.

• The two sides had previously crossed paths in qualifying for the 1988 competition, drawing both games, and in the quarter-finals of the 1986 event. An Italy side that included Roberto Donadoni, Giuseppe Giannini, Roberto Mancini, Gianluca Vialli and Walter Zenga drew 1-1 in Gothenburg on 12 March 1986 before advancing with a 2-1 win in Bergamo 17 days later. After beating England in the semi-finals, Italy lost to Spain on penalties in the two-legged final.

• It was a tale of two penalties when the teams met on 11 February this year in Trieste. Robert Acquafresca's penalty gave Italy a 24th-minute lead but Pontus Wernbloom levelled on 64 minutes, also from the spot.

• The lineups for the game were:
Italy: Andrea Consigli, Domenico Criscito (Lorenzo De Silvestri 66), Salvatore Bocchetti (Fabiano Santacroce 46), Marco Andreolli, Marco Motta (Lino Marzoratti 80), Antonio Candreva (Andrea Poli 46), Piermario Morosini, Daniele Dessena (Davide Bottone 66), Sebastian Giovinco (Alessio Cerci 80), Ignazio Abate, Robert Acquafresca (Mario Balotelli 46).
Sweden: Kristoffer Nordfelt (Pär Hansson 46), Martin Olsson (Emil Johansson 52), Rasmus Bengtsson (Per Karlsson 63), Mattias Bjärsmyr Mikael Lustig, Emir Bajrami (Pierre Bengtsson 81), Albin Ekdal (Andreas Landgren 41), Gustav Svensson, Gabriel Özkan (Guillermo Molins 63), Pontus Wernbloom, Ola Toivonen (Johan Oremo 81).

• Italy coach Pierluigi Casiraghi played at the Olympia for Chelsea FC in a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first-round tie against Helsingborgs IF in October 1998. Casiraghi was a 90th-minute substitute in a goalless draw that secured Chelsea a 1-0 aggregate success.

• It was the second stalemate in Sweden for Casiraghi who had earlier played for S.S. Lazio in a 0-0 draw at Trelleborgs FF in the UEFA Cup second round in October 1994 – although, as with Chelsea, his team finished 1-0 aggregate winners.

• Denni Avdic, Guillermo Molins, Rasmus Elm and Emir Bajrami were in the Sweden side that lost 5-2 to Italy in a UEFA European U19 Championship Elite round game in June 2007, Elm scoring the opening goal. Martin Olsson was an unused substitute against an Italy side that included Andrea Poli.

• Alberto Paloschi struck Italy's opener in a 2-0 win against Sweden in the 2008 U19 Elite round last May. Poli came on as a second-half substitute against a Sweden team captained by Andreas Landgren, with Joel Ekstrand also playing and Kristoffer Nordfeldt an unused substitute.

• Sweden joint-coach Söderberg was on the bench for the countries' most recent meeting at senior international level on 18 June 2004. Söderberg, then joint-national coach alongside Lars Lagerbäck, saw his charges earn a 1-1 draw in the group stage at UEFA EURO 2004™. Antonio Cassano gave Italy a 37th-minute lead but Zlatan Ibrahimović levelled with five minutes remaining.

• Söderberg had a less happy experience against Italy four years earlier when the Azzurri eliminated his Sweden team from UEFA EURO 2000™. It was exactly nine years ago, on 19 June 2002, that Italy won the teams' final group game 2-1 in Eindhoven, goals from Luigi Di Biagio and Alessandro Del Piero sandwiching a Henrik Larsson strike.

• The overall head-to-head record at senior level is nine wins for Italy, six for Sweden and six draws from 21 matches.

Squad news

Sweden

• Marcus Berg won the Carlsberg Man of the Match award for his three-goal performance against Belarus. "It felt good right from the beginning for us and I scored with my first chance," Berg said. " The whole team played well and it was fun."

• It was the first time a player has scored a hat-trick in an U21 final tournament, though Pierre Littbarski managed three goals for Germany against England in the 1982 final when the showpiece was still played over two legs – and it was not enough to prevent England's 5-4 aggregate win.

• It was Berg's first game for the U21s since he played in a 1-1 friendly draw with France on 31 May 2008. He has scored once in seven appearances for the senior Sweden team since then. His only previous U21 goal came in a 4-2 defeat against France on 14 November 2006.

• Sweden joint-coach Lennartsson pinpointed his side's equaliser on 34 minutes – when Aleksandr Martynovich deflected in Elm's shot just a minute after Belarus scored – as the key to victory. "It was very important for us mentally," he said. "We got the energy from the first goal and after that we controlled the rest of the match."

• The hosts' 5-1 victory against Belarus was their biggest win in a UEFA European U21 Championship final tournament. Their biggest win in a competitive U21 match is 6-0 which they have achieved three times, most recently against Malta on 3 June 2005 in the 2006 qualifying group stage at Örjans vall, Halmstad.

• It is just the second time a team has scored five goals or more in an U21 final tournament match. The previous team to manage the feat were England who hold the record for the biggest win in a final tournament after beating Turkey 6-0 in the group stage in 2000.

• One of the biggest cheers of the evening at the Malmö New Stadium came in the 84th minute when a former Malmö FF hero, Ola Toivonen, was replaced by current favourite Labinot Harbuzi.

• Midfielder Gustav Svensson scored Sweden's fifth goal with a long-range strike, his first for the U21 side.

• Bajrami was booked against Belarus and will miss the final Group A game against Serbia if he is cautioned again versus Italy.

• Rasmus Bengtsson, Emil Johansson, Svensson, Elm, Bajrami, Molins, Harbuzi and Landgren all made their competitive U21 debuts against Belarus.

• Sweden will go into their Midsummer's match against Italy with a fully-fit squad. On Wednesday only the reserves were put through their paces on the training pitch while the players involved in the Belarus game enjoyed some recovery time in the hotel pool.

• Joint-coach Lennartsson insisted his side would not be guilty of over-confidence as they prepare to meet the five-time champions. "It's important to have a combination of humility and confidence, but it's not good if confidence turns into arrogance," he said. "That shouldn't be a problem in this team. If someone loses touch with reality, then Wernbloom will quickly bring him back down."

Italy

• Italy players Mario Balotelli, Claudio Marchisio and Francesco Pisano were booked in the 0-0 draw against Serbia and will miss the final Group A game against Belarus if cautioned again versus Sweden.

• It was the fourth final tournament in a row that Italy had failed to win their opening match. In 2007 (Serbia 0-1) and 2006 (Denmark 3-3) they were knocked out in the group stage after false starts, although in 2004 they recovered from losing 2-1 to Belarus to win the tournament.

• Italy started with a 4-3-3 formation against Serbia, with Paolo De Ceglie preferred to Daniele Dessena for one of the three places in central midfield. Balotelli, Acquafresca and Sebastian Giovinco started in attack.

• Midway through the second half Casiraghi switched to 4-4-2, replacing Balotelli with right winger Ignazio Abate and moving De Ceglie wide on the left side of midfield. "I liked the way the team played," the Italy coach said. "We were the better team in the first half and had a great chance in the second before Serbia also went close twice. I think we just lacked a goal and probably we deserved to score."

• A tired Marco Motta was replaced by Pisano with 13 minutes to play. The Italy captain was not injured and will be available against Sweden when Casiraghi is expected to have his full squad at his disposal.

• After the match Italy remained in Helsingborg, where their training camp is based. On Wednesday those who played against Serbia took part in a recovery session while the rest of the squad trained as usual at Harlyckan.