Current European Champions Greece take on Sweden in the first of their Group D games at Euro 2008 and they will want to get off to the best possible start as they try to win unprecedented back-to-back titles. Neither side are renowned world beaters but each both have great self belief and are capable of grinding out results when it matters and with free bets available from two of our leading partners, Betfair and Skybet, you could cash in on this fixture. Greece took everyone by surprise in Euro 2004 when they defied their 100-1 odds to emerge victorious in Portugal. Things will be more difficult for them this time around as they won’t be an unknown quantity and teams will be ready for them. They will be without inspirational captain Theo Zagorakis who retired in 2007 but they have a fine replacement in Angelos Basina who plays his club football for Real Mallorca and has been a regular in the Greek team for 9 year now. Greece qualified for the finals with a massive 31 points, more than any other team and won 7 of their last 8 games to ensure they topped their group. Most of their goals are expected to come from Bayer Leverkusen striker Theofanis Gekas who had a difficult season in Germany but still managed to find the back of the net 11 times. He is a very clinical finisher and proved this as he scored 21 goals two seasons ago for a Bochum side that battled relegation all season. German coach Rehhagel will have his work cut out for a repeat performance of 2004 but who would bet against them again this time around?

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Sweden reached the quarters in 2004 before going out on penalties to the Netherlands and will be confident they can match that achievement this time around. In Zlaten Ibrahimovic they have one of the best strikers in the world but the Inter Milan man has a habit of disappearing during key games and still has it all to prove on the world stage. Veteran striker Henrik Larsson has once again come out of retirement and has been named in the squad despite not playing a single qualifying game! Larsson, who has played for Barcelona, Manchester United and Celtic in the past, caught the coach’s eye after scoring 6 goals in 11 games for Helsingborgs this season. His experience will be vital to a Swedish team who look dangerous going forward but a little suspect in defence and their first choice goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson is seriously out of practice after playing only 4 games this year for Manchester City. Both teams will see this game as an opportunity to get three points on the board early in the competition but who do you think will have the edge and emerge victorious? You can put your money where your mouth is and take advantage of free bets available from Betfair and Skybet to bet and a huge array of betting options including in-game betting unique to Betfair.