‘Even Spielberg couldn’t have written it’

There was little sympathy for Italy after Denmark and Sweden froze the former European champions out of Euro 2004 with a 2-2 draw here on Tu...

There was little sympathy for Italy after Denmark and Sweden froze the former European champions out of Euro 2004 with a 2-2 draw here on Tuesday.

The Italian camp had protested long and hard in the run-up to the game that the Scandinavian neighbours may attempt to collude to produce a high-scoring draw that would leave them and not Italy making it into the quarterfinals.

But Swedish striker Henrik Larsson dismissed the suggestion. ‘‘There’s no way you could arrange that scoreline — not even Steven Spielberg could write a script like that. I didn’t hear the result of the Italy v Bulgaria game until after ours’ was over. I feel sorry for the Italians, but in football sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.’’

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The former Celtic legend’s sympathy for Italy was not shared by everyone at Boavista’s rain-drenched Bessa Stadium. ‘‘They’d have been better off winning their games rather than complaining about ours,’’ said Sweden mid-fielder Kim Kallstrom.

Sweden’s co-coach Lars Lagerback also gave the notion of collusion short shrift. ‘‘If Trapattoni studied this match or anyone who knew anything about football you could see it wasn’t the case. “ — (Reuters)

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