Fredrik Ljungberg (centre) celebrates his goal with Swedish teammates Henrik Larsson (left) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in Lisbon on Monday. Larsson added a brace, Ibrahimovic and Marcus Allback one each as Sweden wallopped Bulgaria 5-0 in the group C game. (Reuters)

Lisbon: Striker Henrik Larsson marked his return to the big stage by scoring twice in two minutes as Sweden crushed Bulgaria 5-0 in their opening Euro 2004 game on Monday (as reported in Tuesday’s Late City edition).

Larsson, recently persuaded to end two years of international retirement, claimed his double within 71 seconds early in the second half, the first a glorious diving header and the second a sliding lunge at the far post.

“It went perfectly, I can’t imagine a better way to make my comeback in a competitive match,” Larsson said. “It was a virtually perfect performance in the second half and I can’t remember a more enjoyable game I’ve played for Sweden.”

Fredrik Ljungberg had given Sweden a deserved 32nd-minute lead, Zlatan Ibrahimovic added a fourth from the penalty spot before substitute Marcus Allback completed the rout in stoppage time.

The victory, easily Sweden’s biggest in the European Championship and equalling the highest winning margin in the tournament’s 44-year history, gave them early control of Group C after Denmark and Italy drew 0-0.

It also emphatically ended their curse of not winning an opening game in a major meet, a run going back through eight competitions to the 1958 World Cup.

The breakthrough came when midfielder Anders Svensson sent a long pass into the path of Ibrahimovic who crossed low for Ljungberg to touch in from point-blank range.

Bulgaria were still very much in it early in the second half as Zoran Jankovich and Martin Petrov went close but just as their hopes were rising, Larsson left them reeling.

In the 57th minute, full back Erik Edman swung in a tempting cross from the left and the Celtic striker launched himself full length to head an early contender for goal of the tournament.

Just over a minute later Svensson drove a low cross in from the right and Larsson arrived at the far post to steer the ball into the roof of the net.

The Swedish fans roared their team forward to try to match their 4-0 success over Bulgaria in the 1994 World Cup third-place playoff, when Larsson also scored, and their wish was granted 12 minutes from time.

Ljungberg was brought down in the box by Vladimir Ivanov but Larsson turned down the chance of his hattrick by handing the ball to Ibrahimovic, who lashed in the penalty.

“I gave the ball to Zlatan to take the penalty because it’s very good for the team for all the strikers to score goals. We had three strikers who all scored and that’s good,” Larsson said.

The Swedes were attacking at will by then and capped a memorable night when Allback sprung the offside trap to gleefully lash in the fifth.

It was only the fourth time a European Championship match had been won by a five-goal margin but Bulgaria coach Plamen Markov thought the scoreline was harsh on his team.

“It was an even first half and although we were 1-0 down at halftime I was pleased with the way my team played,” he said. “But in the second half Sweden scored twice very quickly and then took control and kept it easily until the end.”

Teams

Sweden: Andreas Isaksson; Teddy Lucic (Christian Wilhelmsson 41), Olof Mellberg, Andreas Jakobsson, Erik Edman; Mikael Nilsson, Tobias Linderoth, Anders Svensson (Kim Kallstrom 77), Fredrik Ljungberg; Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Marcus Allback 81), Henrik Larsson.

Bulgaria: Zdravko Zdravkov; Vladimir Ivanov, Predrag Pazhin, Rosen Kirilov, Ivailo Petkov; Georgi Peev, Marian Hristov, Stilian Petrov, Martin Petrov (Zdravko Lazarov 84); Zoran Jankovic (Velizar Dimitrov 62); Dimitar Berbatov (Vladimir Manchev 76).

Referee: Mike Riley (England).