SETANTA NEWS

Zlatan beats England on his own

by Tony Cuddihy , 14 November 2012

A goal on his debut from Steven Caulker ultimately proved worthless as England succumbed to a 4-2 defeat to Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Wednesday night.


The Paris Saint Germain striker scored all of Sweden's goals on the night, with his fourth strike a wondergoal that will be replayed time and time again.

Ibrahimovic put his side ahead in the 20th minute when he poked a shot past Joe Hart with the outside of his right foot, having initially lost control of the ball.

Danny Welbeck pulled England level with a volley from close range, before Caulker prodded his team ahead from a Steven Gerrard dead ball.

From that point onwards, however, it became the Zlatan show.

The 31-year-old smartly volleyed past Hart to make it 2-2, before his low, long range free-kick somehow made it past the Manchester City 'keeper.

He saved his best for last, however, as Ibrahimovic produced a stunning bicycle kick from 30 yards in injury time, a strike to grace the opening of Sweden's new stadium in Stockholm.

Meanwhile, a brace from Jordan Rhodes earned Scotland a much-needed victory, as they beat Luxembourg 2-1 at Stade Josy Barthel.

The Blackburn striker headed in his first after just ten minutes, before doubling his tally 12 minutes later with a tap-in.

An early dead-ball strike from Lars Gerson in the second half changed the tone of the match as Scotland, under the caretaker management of Billy Stark, were made to sweat.

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Pos
Team P W D L +/- PTS
1.
Man Utd
37
28
4
5
43
88
2.
Man City
36
22
9
5
31
75
3.
Chelsea
37
21
9
7
35
72
4.
Tottenham
37
20
9
8
19
69
5.
Arsenal
36
19
10
7
31
67
6.
Everton
37
16
15
6
16
63
7.
Liverpool
37
15
13
9
27
58
8.
West Brom
37
14
6
17
-4
48
9.
Swansea
37
11
13
13
-1
46
10.
West Ham
37
11
10
16
-10
43
11.
Stoke
37
9
14
14
-11
41
12.
Norwich
37
9
14
14
-18
41
13.
Newcastle
37
11
8
18
-22
41
14.
Southampton
37
9
13
15
-11
40
15.
Fulham
37
10
10
17
-13
40
16.
Aston Villa
37
10
10
17
-22
40
17.
Sunderland
37
9
12
16
-12
39
18.
Wigan
36
9
8
19
-23
35
19.
Reading
36
6
10
20
-26
28
20.
QPR
37
4
13
20
-29
25

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