Sweden vs Belgium match report: Radja Nainggolan stunner confirms Belgium's qualification

Sweden 0 Belgium 1: Roma midfielder struck late from distance in Zlatan Ibrahimovic's final international

Radja Nainggolan scored the only goal of the game in Nice on Wednesday (Getty)

There is now just one Swede left at this tournament and Lars Lagerback will be here in Nice on Monday overseeing an Iceland side that has shown far more Viking values than the land of his birth.

The only way Sweden were going to qualify for knockout stages of the European Championship was if Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has never quite fulfilled his extraordinary talents on the international stage, chose to scatter some last stardust on the Riviera. However, Sweden’s weakness can be judged from the fact that their only shots on target in Euro 2016 came in this, their final match of the tournament. The closest they came to a breakthrough was when Kevin de Bruyne cleared off the line.

There was a goal in Nice that was worthy of Ibrahimovic’s ability, struck powerfully from the edge of the area, leaving the keeper helpless but it came from Radja Nainggolan and ensured that Belgium progressed fairly smoothly to the business phase of the competition. Zlatan, who had a goal disallowed and a couple more opportunities besides, will return home, probably to complete the business of signing for Manchester United.

Perhaps it was fitting that Ibrahimovic ended his international career on the Cote d’Azur where so many of the internationally rich end up, It is a retirement home for what used to be called the jet set and Zlatan at 34 is definitely part of that.

Despite a career that has seen him win a dozen domestic titles in his last 13 seasons the immigrant boy from the unforgiving suburbs of Malmo has never stamped his authority and talent on a major tournament.

When he was selected to play his first international at home, he thought Stockholm bewilderingly big. “It felt like New York, I was gawping at everything,” he recalled, admitting that most of what he gawped at were women.

Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic bowed out of international football with a defeat (Getty)

Having lived in Milan, Barcelona and Paris, Ibrahimovic is a little more sophisticated these days but he went into what in his guts he suspected would be his final match with something still to prove. The trains at Nice Station that disgorged thousands of yellow-shirted supporters all with ‘Ibrahimovic’ on their back suggested there was still plenty who carried the faith.

However, Sweden were facing a side that had very much more than just the one option. There was Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku and Yannick Carrasco to menace the Swedish back four but mostly there was De Bruyne.

Manchester City have contributed two footballers who cost around £50m to this tournament and while Raheem Sterling will probably watch England’s game against Iceland in Nice from the bench, De Bruyne was at the heart of everything imaginative about Belgium’s play.

In a first half that Belgium had much the better of, his crosses might have produced at least a couple of goals had Lukaku timed his run better or had the right-back, Thomas Meunier, got a better connection with his header. Eventually, midway through the second half, just after Ibrahimovic had his goal disallowed, De Bruyne decided to do it himself and forced a fine, full-length save from Andreas Isaksson. Eighteen minutes from the end the Sweden keeper kept his nerve to deny Lukaku when the Everton striker was sprinting through on goal.

Zlatan did not sprint. He hovered, like a cat waiting for a mouse to sprint across the living-room floor. When he pounced, there was a shot that cracked past Thibaut Courtois’ post and a free-kick with time running out that the Chelsea keeper pushed away hard.

Ibrahimovic may have changed since his debut but so have Sweden and not for the better. He came into a Sweden side that had players of the calibre of Stefan Schwarz, Patrik Andersson and Henrik Larsson. Now there was just him left and nobody believed it would be enough.

Sweden: (4-4-2) Isaksson; Lindelof, Johansson, Granqvist, M.Olsson; S.Larsson (Durmaz, 69), Ekdal, Kallstrom, Forsberg (Zengin, 83); Berg (Guidetti, 63), Ibrahimovic.

Belgium: (4-2-3-1) Courtois; Meunier, Alderweireld, Vermaelen, Vertonghen; Nainggolan, Witsel; Carrasco (Mertens, 71), De Bruyne, Hazard (Origi, 90); Lukaku (Benteke, 88).

Referee Felix Brych (Germany)