The German tactician, who led the Greek to a shocking title in 2004, conceded that his team lacked the potential of big team like Germany in Salzburg.

"Unfortunately, some players did not play at the level I would have expected to them to. I didn't like my players in the back four playing so many passes to each other – you can play one pass or two," he said after the game.

"But you can't keep that going for an extended period and I wanted them to go forward, which they failed to do.

"We have to admit that our opponents won the tackles and had the upper hand in the one-on-ones.

"If we'd applied different tactics then we would have conceded five by half-time. With the sweeper we played, it was 0-0 and we still had an opportunity.

"We have to defend tightly to get our chance to score. Unfortunately we do not have as much attacking potential as teams like Germany."

Wonderful Zlatan

Sweden coach Lars Lagerback praised striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who opened the scoring with what could the goal of the competition so far.

"We thought Zlatan and Henrik (Larsson) would generate a certain amount of respect in the team and we had prepared the players for that," said Lagerback.

"Greece are physically and technically very good and it was a very tough match. Zlatan's goal was a beautiful one and it was also a very good move – but the finish was world-class. It was wonderful to see."

Ibra, who shrugged off a knee injury to be fit for the game, ended a three-year goal drought with the national team.