Sweden 1-0 Belgium: Linda Sembrant hits dramatic 92nd-minute winner

Sweden are former winners of the European Women's Championship

Linda Sembrant scored a dramatic 92nd-minute winner for Sweden to break Belgium's hearts and book a semi-final date with hosts England at the European Women's Championship.

Stina Blackstenius had a goal ruled out for offside before being denied by a fine Nicky Evrard save as Sweden had 33 attempts against the Red Flames.

But Sembrant's goal means Sweden will now face the Lionesses at a sold out Bramall Lane in Sheffield next Tuesday (20:00 BST) for a place in the final.

While Belgium's players looked shattered at the final whistle after going so close to forcing extra time, Sweden's players celebrated wildly in front of their jubilant fans at Leigh Sports Village.

On this evidence, however, Sarina Wiegman's Lionesses will not have too much fear. While Sweden scored five in their previous game against Portugal, they spurned chance after chance before eventually edging through.

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The expectation before kick-off was that the Swedes would join Wiegman's side in Sheffield although Sweden boss Peter Gerhardsson was quick to play down any complacency on the eve of the quarter-final.

"We haven't gone through so it's nothing we are thinking about at the moment," Gerhardsson, when asked about England having two more days' rest than their semi-final opponents, said on Thursday after the Lionesses had defeated Spain.

On a damp night in Greater Manchester, the team ranked second in the world were made to work hard by a Belgium side that produced a resilient rearguard display.

Sweden started on the front foot against a team 17 places below them in the world rankings.

Manchester City's Filippa Angeldahl twice went close in the early stages before Blackstenius produced a composed finish after being sent clean through.

Her celebrations, however, were cut short after a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) check ruled she had strayed narrowly offside.

It was not all one-way traffic. Justine Vanhaevermaet, scorer of Belgium's first goal at Euro 2022, went close with a fierce attempt before Sweden eventually got the job done.

Belgium will take the positives

This will be hard to take for Belgium, who were appearing at this stage of the tournament for the first time after Tine de Caigny's winner in the excellent win over Italy on Monday.

The Red Flames only led at Euro 2022 for 41 minutes but the team ranked 19th in the world depart having progressed further than Norway (11th), Italy (14th), Denmark (15th) and Iceland (17th) who are all above them in Fifa's rankings.

That should provide them confidence when they entertain Norway in a crucial World Cup qualifier on 2 September.

Their players looked close to tears at the end but they exit the tournament with positives to take into the future.