Familiar foes Sweden and Spain meet at Euro 2008 today with nothing but mutual respect after locking horns in qualifying.
"Sweden are a very difficult side to play against," Spain coach Luis Aragones told reporters this week. "They play at great pace on the counter-attack and have some excellent forwards.
"They are definitely a team to worry about."
Opposite number Lars Lagerback expressed similar sentiments about the Spanish before the game in Innsbruck.
"We know all about Spain having played them in qualifying," he said. "They like to keep the ball and are very dangerous in attack. We will have to be patient and play our own game, like we did against Greece."
Spain finished two points ahead of Sweden in qualification although honours were even in head-to-head meetings. The two sides notched up convincing wins in their opening matches on Tuesday, Spain crushing Russia 4-1 and Sweden beating defending champions Greece 2-0.
It means a victory for either side today would move them to within touching distance of the quarter-finals; with a place in the last eight guaranteed for the victors should Greece's late kick-off against Russia end in a draw.
Spain have no significant injury problems and Aragones is likely to stick with the same side that beat Russia.
Striker David Villa, who notched a hat-trick on Tuesday, suffered a hairline fracture to his right index finger after getting it caught in Fernando Torres's shirt during the celebrations for his opening goal but will be available.
Sweden, however, will have to reconstruct their right flank following injuries to Christian Wilhelmsson and defender Niclas Alexandersson.
Alexandersson's place is set to go to Fredrik Stoor, who replaced him as a substitute against the Greeks, while it is a toss up between Sebastian Larsson and Johan Elmander for Wilhelmsson's berth on the right wing.
Key stats
• Sweden and Spain qualified for the finals having beaten each other on the way. The Swedes won 2-0 in Stockholm thanks to goals by Johan Elmander and Marcus Allback with Spain winning 3-0 in Madrid. Current squad members Joan Capdevila, Andreas Iniesta and Sergio Ramos were on the scoresheet.
• David Villa's hat-trick against Russia makes him Spain's top scorer in a European Championship finals tournament (since 1980).
On TV: Sweden vs Spain, RaiUno 6 p.m.