Denmark 2-2 Sweden (agg 3-4): Zlatan Ibrahimovic scores stunning free-kick

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Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic settled the second leg of Sweden's Euro 2016 play-off
He had scored a penalty in the first leg but Denmark's away goal had given them hope for Tuesday's return
But Sweden's captain fired them in front in the first half before scoring a stunning free-kick after the break
Yussuf Poulsen pulled a goal back for the hosts before Jannik Vestergaard levelled the score on the night

Published: 16:36 EST, 17 November 2015 | Updated: 03:31 EST, 18 November 2015

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The Copenhagen Curse continues and so does the monster of Malmo – what a contrasting evening for Christian Eriksen and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

While one of them is seemingly unable to replicate for Denmark what he does for Tottenham, the other is a devastating, magnificent force wherever he plays. The utter joy for Sweden is that this Ibrahimovic ride has some way to run yet.

He had teased the supporters and Sweden's management with hints that his time as an international striker might be up if they failed to reach Euro 2016. What a double bonus that they qualified and renewed their lease on a super ego and a super talent.

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic falls to his knees after the final whistle as Sweden celebrate reaching the Euro 2016 Finals

Ibrahimovic scores a second-half free-kick to make sure of Sweden's place at Euro 2016 next summer

The Paris Saint-Germain striker curled the ball home with his trademark panache as Denmark were beaten in the second leg

Ibrahimovic watches as the ball curls over the wall and into the top corner of the net to put daylight between Sweden and Denmark

Ibrahimovic's free-kick beats goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel as the Danish keeper dives despairingly to his left

Ibrahimovic races away to celebrate as he begins to look forward to the Euro 2016 finals next summer in France

MATCH FACTS AND RATINGS FROM RIATH AL-SAMARRAI AT THE TELIA PARKEN

QUALIFIED TEAMS FOR EURO 2016

Pot 1: France, Spain, Germany, England, Portugal, Belgium.

Pot 2: Italy, Switzerland, Croatia, Austria, Russia, Ukraine.

Pot 3: Czech Republic, Sweden, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary.

Pot 4: Turkey, Republic of Ireland, Iceland, Wales, Albania, Northern Ireland.

*Draw will be made on December 12

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was Sweden's hero once again as he scored twice to follow up his goal in the first leg. After scoring in the first-half, he curled home a stunning free-kick in the second as the visitors held on despite Denmark scoring two late goals.

Check out the captain's heat map and all the other stats and faces from the match in our brilliant match zone.

Denmark (4-2-3-1): Schmeichel 6.5; Jocobsen 6, Kjaer 5, Agger 6, Durmisi 5.5 (Vestergaard 83); Hojbjerg 6, Delaney 6.5 (Krohn-Dehli 45, 6); Poulsen 6.5, Eriksen 6, Jorgensen 6; Bendtner 5

Subs not used: Andersen, Wass, Kvist Jorgensen, Braithwaite, Christensen, Falk Jensen, Simon Poulsen, Jakob Poulsen, Rasmussen, Lossl.

Booked: Durmisi, Poulsen, Hojbjerg

Sweden (4-4-2): Isaksson 6.5; Lustig 6.5, Johansson 6, Granqvist 5.5, Bengtsson 5 (Olsson 86); Larsson 6.5 (Hiljemark 81), Lewicki 6.5, Kallstrom 6 (Svensson 69), Forsberg 6; Berg 6, Ibrahimovic 8.5

Subs not used: Olsen, Helander, Guidetti, Kujovic, Milosevic, Toivonen, Durmaz, Zengin, Carlgren.

Booked: Bengtsson, Larsson

Referee: Martin Atkinson (England) 6.5

He did twice on Tuesday night what Eriksen has not done once – he scored an international goal in Copenhagen. And more than that, he ran, hustled, screamed and defended. He was exceptional, his first goal a deceptively good flick and his second a blatantly good free-kick.

Combined it means he now has 62 goals in 111 caps, 11 of which have come in this qualification campaign alone. Sweden, thanks hugely to him, go to France. Denmark, who salvaged a draw on the night from the late goals of Yussuf Poulsen and Jannik Vestergaard, stay at home and lose their manager, Morten Olson, after 15 years.

If there is any consolation, it is that he was floored by a genius.

'They said they were going to send me to retirement,' Ibrahimovic said. 'I sent their whole nation into retirement.'

As in Stockholm at the weekend, this was a game dominated by the Danes before Sweden turned up. In this instance, it was an 18-minute surge, during which time Demark painted the pitch red and did the same to Ibrahimovic's face. At one stage he appeared to be screaming and huffing at everyone and no-one, a hand-flapping ball of irritation in a team that lacked possession and any obvious idea of what to do when they had it.

They might have trailed to a comical own goal after eight minutes but were saved by their crossbar. A Denmark corner was flicked on by Nicolai Jorgensen and Yussuf Poulsen contorted his torso in the air to enable a prod towards goal. The shot was tame but Kim Kallstrom threw himself at the loose ball and launched the ball against the frame.

Ibrahimovic scores the opening goal game as Sweden beat Denmark to secure their place at Euro 2016

Ibrahimovic peels away to celebrate after scoring his second goal in as many games for his country to put Denmark in their place

Jannik Vestergaard scores his goal to make it 2-2 but Denmark were unable to find another goal

Nicolas Bendtner reacts after missing a chance against Sweden as Denmark's bid to reach Euro 2016 petered out

The Sweden team unfurled a banner that read 'Ready for Euros' after their two-legged victory over Denmark

The players are joined in celebration by Sweden's backroom staff as they rejoice in victory over their Scandinavian rivals

Schmeichel is left dejected, face down on the pitch, after Denmark's chances of reaching Euro 2016 were extinguished

Denmark's midfielder Christian Eriksen and his team-mates react after they could only draw with Sweden

That was a let off, as was the case when Poulsen entered the Swedish area from the right and shot straight at Andreas Isaksson. But then Ibrahimovic stirred and, as tends to happen, he brought Sweden down to breakfast with him. The goal was ugly until the slow-motion replay showed exactly what Ibrahimovic had done.

Kallstrom's corner was low towards the penalty spot and the PSG forward headed away from goal, delivering the subtlest flick to send the ball bouncing across the front of Kasper Schmeichel and inside the far post. The glance to that part of the goal in the initial run was the tell that the big man knew what he was doing.

He then drew an excellent save from Schmeichel and Eriksen came close with a free-kick.

Sweden's Marcus Berg and Denmark's Jorgensen traded half chances at the start of the second half, the latter via an Erik Johansson deflection, and Eriksen also fluffed a delivery from a free-kick. He later missed a chance from 12 yards. The mystery of his international form continues to go unsolved; the excellence of Ibrahimovic was underlined by a free-kick from 25 yards.

Poulsen and Vestergaard retaliated with late goals but it was always going to take more to stop Ibrahimovic. Of course it was.