Scandinavian media cheer draw
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Newspapers in Scandinavia have cheered -- some even gloated -- over Denmark's European championship 2-2 draw with Sweden which saw both teams through to the quarter-finals.
"Nordic triumph!" cried the main headline on the front page of the sports section of Sweden's leading daily newspaper, Dagens Nyheter.
Most dismissed any notion of a Scandinavian conspiracy to rig the result, which ensured both teams qualified at the expense of Italy.
"The Italian nightmare came true and turned into Nordic European championship bliss," Dagens Nyheter said.
The Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet called it a "magic result on a night of magic".
"The time of miracles isn't over. The seconds were ticking away, Sweden were trailing 2-1...(but then) Mattias Jonson's magical 2-2 shot sent Sweden to Saturday's quarter-final," Svenska Dagbladet said.
The Swedish regional daily Goteborgs-Posten described the encounter as a "thriller" and Sydsvenska Dagbladet, another regional newspaper, said: "The Nordic dream came true".
Tuesday June 22 "was a crazy, crazy night which we'll have to live with forever," wrote the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet's soccer columnist Simon Bank.
"Even if eternity brings an ice age, and a new world arises from that ice age, and that world burns down, even then a Luigi or a Pietro will sneak up behind (us Scandinavians) and scream: 'Due a due?! (2-2)," he wrote, referring to the Italian conspiracy theory that Denmark and Sweden would contrive a 2-2 draw.
The Swedish tabloid Expressen said Jonson's 89th-minute equaliser had brought about "the improbable finish" and that Sweden and Denmark had qualified for the quarter-finals after "an incredible result".
Denmark's leading daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende celebrated their goalscorer.
"With his two goals against the arch rivals from Sweden, Jon Dahl Tomasson took Denmark further in the European championship tournament," Berlingske Tidende said.
The Danish daily Jyllands-Posten dubbed the match an "intense and dramatic battle".
The Danish tabloid EkstraBladet quoted Denmark central defender Martin Laursen, who is moving to England and Aston Villa from AC Milan, as saying: "I can't help but say: 'Ha!'... The Italians are out, having talked before the tournament about whom they would meet in the final."
