Sweden rout Portugal to seal Euros last-eight spot

A Filippa Angeldahl double helped the Swedes avoid a showdown with France. 

WIGAN WARRIORS: Sweden's players celebrate winning the group in front of their fans at Leigh Sports Village this evening.

A brace from Manchester City's Filippa Angeldahl helped Sweden ease into the Euro 2022 quarter-finals with a 5-0 thrashing of Portugal in their final Group C encounter this evening.

Victory at the Leigh Sports Village in Wigan, coupled with Netherlands only beating Switzerland by a three-goal margin, means the number two team in the world have avoided France in the last eight stage.

An own goal by Carole Costa, Kosovare Asllani's penalty and a late stunner by Stina Blackstenius saw Sweden win in style to top their group but they must wait until Monday night to discover their knock-out stage opponent with Iceland, Belgium and Italy still able to qualify from Group D.

The deadlock was broken in the 21st minute when Jonna Andersson's corner was not dealt with by Morais, with her weak punch allowing Angeldahl to tap home from close range.

An upset victory for Portugal, who only received a late call-up to this tournament due to Russia's ban, would have sent them through to a maiden quarter-final but they were dealt a blow prior to half-time when Catarina Amado had to leave the pitch on a stretcher.

Rytting Kaneryd received a booking for her tackle on the top of Amado's foot before Sweden were denied a second goal by the offside flag after Blackstenius finished well following Asllani's exceptional flick.

Peter Gerhardsson's team were able to breath a sigh of relief minutes later and thanks to another set-piece.

Asllani took a free-kick near the byline and cut back for Angeldahl, who produced a wonderful curled finish into the corner of the net.

With seven minutes added on due to Amado's injury, Sweden were in the groove now and inflicted more pain on Portugal before the half-time whistle.

Andersson's corner went to the near-post this time and Costa, under pressure from Amanda Ilestedt, could only head past her own goalkeeper.

Diana Silva provided Sweden with another helping hand shortly after the break when she handled a cross, which allowed Asllani the chance to score from the spot and the Real Madrid forward stroked home her penalty in cool fashion to make it 4-0.

VAR denied Arsenal's Blackstenius a goal once again on the hour mark when her miscued header, which had crossed the line, was ruled out due to her being in an offside position.

Blackstenius would have the last laugh and in the process fire a warning to the other contenders when she got off the mark at Euro 2022 in stoppage time with a superb strike from outside the area into the top corner.

It gave Sweden a 5-0 victory that saw them top Group C after defending champions Netherlands could only beat Switzerland by a 4-1 score.

With the scores level at 1-1 entering the final stages of the game, Romee Leuchter and Victoria Pelova scored three goals between them in a destructive final 10 minutes for Mark Parsons' side.