Elm heaps praise on Sweden's captain fantastic

"We'll carry this win with us," said Rasmus Elm, who won the penalty that set Sweden on the way to an impressive 3-1 victory over Croatia in Zagreb. The pass that led to the spot kick was played by Zlatan Ibrahimović, who then converted it and orchestrated two further goals from his withdrawn striker role. If Elm was full of praise for his captain's performance, Croatia skipper Darijo Srna urged their fans not to worry, saying his side will "solve the problems before the start of EURO".

Rasmus Elm, Sweden midfielder
Zlatan was given space to look for the right pass, so I made the run and he found me very well. I nudged the ball on and the goalkeeper ran into me. He [Ibrahimović] found the spaces that players want to find. It's different to playing as a lone striker when there's always a defender at your back. In this [withdrawn] position he gets more time facing goal, and he has a talent for finding the right pass. This win gives us confidence. The way we won – playing good football and scoring beautiful goals – was solid. It was against a strong nation too – I think they're ranked eighth or ninth in the world. We'll carry this win with us.

Kim Källström, Sweden midfielder
I wouldn't say it was easy for us. I think we played very well, we were disciplined and attacked strongly. Football is decided by small details and they went our way today. That is how matches like this one are won. Of course, it's very positive for us. Friendly matches can be judged on two things – the performance or the result. Competitive matches are only about results. Today we got positive answers on both fronts.

Darijo Srna, Croatia midfielder
Was it bad? Yes, it was bad. But is it going to be better at EURO? Yes it is. Don't worry. It's not nice when you are down 3-1 and Sweden take possession and keep it for a long time. You don't feel good in moments like that. But that's something we need to analyse and we will solve the problems before the start of the EURO.

Mario Mandžukić, Croatia forward
We lost 3-1, it was not good. We didn't play well and they punished us and we need to learn from this loss. The whole team played poorly – that's the reason. I can't say Sweden are a better team. They are a good team but we were not at our level. If we played like we can, the result wouldn't be like this.