Granqvist on spot to hand Sweden winning start

Andreas Granqvist took advantage of a VAR-awarded penalty to hand Sweden a Group F win over South Korea.

The Sweden captain tucked home in the 65th minute of the clash in Nizhny Novgorod after technology was used to rule that Viktor Claesson had been fouled in the area.

It was a deserved victory for Sweden, who created the better chances throughout and Marcus Berg spurned a couple of good openings.

Sweden had not scored in three outings prior to the tournament but they showed the greater attacking intent.

Granqvistwas denied by a fine tackle by Kim Young-gwon and Korea goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo produced a fine point-black save to deny Berg.

Tottenham’s Son Heung-min created a rare Korea opportunity as he broke away from Granqvist but he was unable to pick out a colleague in the box.

Berg had another chance before the break as he controlled a long ball on his chest and took it away from the keeper but he could only lob across goal.

Celtic’s Mikael Lustig picked out Claesson on the stroke of half-time but his header was deflected wide.

The breakthrough came after 65 minutes as Sweden were awarded a penalty. Referee Joel Aguilar initially allowed play to go on after Claesson was hacked down by Lee Jae-sung but called a halt after a word in his ear.

Granqvist took responsibility and sent Jo the wrong way.

That proved the telling blow and Sweden were largely untroubled as they saw out victory.