Greece v Sweden

UEFA EURO 2008 GROUP D
Date: Tue 10 Jun KO: 1945 BST Venue: Stadion Wals-Siezenheim, Salzburg

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Holders Greece should be at full strength as they begin their Euro 2008 campaign against Sweden in Salzburg.

Giorgios Karagounis has recovered from a knee problem and Coach Otto Rehhagel has no other injury concerns.

Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are expected to start up front for Sweden, although Ibrahimovic (swollen knee) is unlikely to last 90 minutes.

Tobias Linderoth is poised to get a defensive midfield role despite question marks over his fitness.

"It is going to be a very physical match with the Greeks and I don't know whether Ibra and Linderoth will be able to play for 90 minutes at this level," said Sweden coach Lagerback.

If Lagerback opts against 36-year-old Larsson, who has not played international football since the 2006 World Cup, Johan Elmander could partner Ibrahimovic in attack.

Birmingham City's Sebastian Larsson is set to start on the right wing ahead of Christian Wilhelmsson.


BIG MATCH STATS
Head-to-heads

Greece and Sweden have met on six previous occasions with Greece winning twice and Sweden once.

Greece are unbeaten in their last five meetings with Sweden (two wins and three draws). The Swede's sole win came at the 1920 Olympic Games (9-0). This match is not recognised as official by Greece.

Head to head records and significant meetings

Team facts - Greece

The defending champions have won three successive European Championship matches, since losing 2-1 to Russia in the group phase of Euro 2004.

Greece are on a streak of eight competitive matches without defeat. The most recent being on 24 March 2007, in European Championship qualifying against Turkey (1-4).

At 69, head coach Otto Rehhagel is the second oldest coach at Euro 2008, only trailing Spain's Luis Aragones (69) by 12 days.

Team facts - Sweden

Unbeaten in four successive European Championship matches (one win and three draws).

Longest running unbeaten streaks at European Championship

The Swedish squad is the oldest at Euro 2008 at an average age of 29 years and 85 days.

Head coach Lars Lagerback is the first national team coach to be present at three European Championships (2000, 2004, 2008).

Player facts - Greece

Goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis has kept a clean sheet in three successive European Championship matches. Only Edwin van der Sar (Holland, five matches) and Dino Zoff (Italy, four) have recorded longer streaks without conceding a single goal.

Kostas Katsouranis will win his 50th cap if he plays. He made his debut in the last meeting between Greece and Sweden, which was a friendly in Sweden on 20 August 2003 (2-1).

Giorgios Karagounis and Sotiris Kyrgiakos were Greece's only ever-present players during qualification.

Theofanis Gekas was Greece's top scorer in the qualifiers with five goals.

Defender Vassilis Torosidis celebrates his 23rd birthday on the day of this match.

Player facts - Sweden

Henrik Larsson is top scorer for Sweden in European Championship competition having scored four goals in seven matches.

At the age of 36 years and 264 days, Larsson can break Roland Nilsson's record (36 years and 196 days) for the oldest Swedish player to compete at the European Championship.

Larsson, Thierry Henry (France) and Nuno Gomes (Portugal) can join Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany) and Vladimir Smicer (Czech Republic) as the only players to have scored in three European Championship editions.

Striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic (50 caps - 18 goals) has failed to score in 14 successive international matches for Sweden. His last goal for his country came in World Cup qualifying on 12 October 2005 against Iceland.