Sweden

The Swedish national team, with a 3-2 victory over Poland in the last round of the group stage, not only secured a place in the knockout stage for the first time since 2004 but also managed to take the top spot in the group, surpassing the Spaniards who finished second.

In the 2018 World Cup, the Swedes reached the quarter-finals and aim not only to repeat but also to improve this result in the European Championship, and the conditions are almost ideal for achieving this. If they win against Ukraine, the Swedes would face the winner of the England/Germany pair, but since neither of these teams looks dominant, the Swedes should have a chance.

Leading the Swedes in this championship are E. Forsberg (RB Leipzig), who scored three goals, A. Isak (Real Sociedad), the youngest player to score for Sweden in international competitions, and D. Kulusevski, who came off the bench in the match against Poland and provided two assists. Although Sweden's most famous footballer Z. Ibrahimović is not playing for them, apart from the first match against Spain, the Swedes look quite good in attack and should be able to exploit Ukraine's relatively weak defense and score goals.

Ukraine

The Ukrainian national team started the championship with an impressive match against the Netherlands – trailing 0-2, the Ukrainians managed to come back and equalize 2-2, but couldn't hold on until the end and had to accept defeat. In the next match against North Macedonia, the Ukrainians maintained aggressive attacking and shot at the goal 8 times, 2 of which resulted in goals. In the last round of the group stage, the Ukrainians lost 0-1 to Austria, finishing the group stage with 3 points.

The Ukrainians were indeed lucky to make it to the knockout stage with just 3 points. Among the teams that finished third in their groups, the Ukrainians were fourth and narrowly avoided being left out. Speaking of Ukraine's encounters with Sweden, these teams have played only once in international tournaments, when they met in the Euro 2012 tournament and achieved a 2-1 victory.

To achieve victory against the Swedes, the Ukrainian national team will need good performances from R. Malinovskyi (Atalanta) and A. Yarmolenko (West Ham United). Yarmolenko has already scored two goals and provided one assist in this tournament, and a good performance from this duo and a goal in the match against Sweden could have a huge impact.

Predicted starting line-ups:

Sweden:
Olsen; Lustig, Lindelof, Danielson, Augustinsson; S. Larsson, Ekdal, Olsson, Forsberg; Quaison, Isak

Ukraine:
Bushchan; Karavaev, Matviyenko, Zabarnyi, Mykolenko; Malinovskyi, Sydorchuk, Zinchenko; Yarmolenko, Yaremchuk, Tsyhankov

Prediction

The Ukrainians have a lot of talent in attack, and according to football experts, the attack is considered the main advantage of the Ukrainian national team. However, the Swedish national team is characterized by particularly good defense and did not concede a goal even against Spain. The Swedes demonstrated in the match against Poland that when crucial moments come, this team does not falter, but rather keeps a cool head and finds opportunities to take the initiative. The Ukrainians should score a goal, but the Swedes are the favorites in the match and it would not be surprising if they achieved a 2-1 victory.