Mikael Lustig scores Sweden’s second goal in the friendly against Wales.
 
The Zlatan Ibrahimovic-Gareth Bale showdown never materialised on an afternoon when Wales’s first and last warm-up match before the European Championship in France finished in a chastening defeat. Wales were desperately poor, so much so that the good news for Chris Coleman started and ended with the fact that nobody got injured. What damage has been done to his players’ confidence remains to be seen.

Sweden, inspired by the irrepressible Ibrahimovic, were simply too strong for Wales, in particular during the period before Bale came off the bench and started to lift his team-mates with his presence more than anything else. By then, goals from Emil Forsberg and Mikael Lustig had put Sweden into a comfortable 2-0 lead and it was expecting far too much for Bale to be able to bend the game back in Wales’s favour.

Although there was an improvement in the Wales performance during those 26 minutes that Bale spent on the pitch, Sweden still grabbed a third goal late on, when John Guidetti, once of Manchester City, capitalised on some suspect defending from Ashley Williams.

The Wales captain endured a bad day at the office and was fortunate that James Chester raced back to clear off the line earlier in the second half after Marcus Berg had got in behind him. Three minutes from time there was nobody to come to Williams’s rescue, however, after he misjudged a long ball over the top and Guidetti, who had not long been on the pitch, slipped past him before beating Daniel Ward with a shot that the substitute goalkeeper got a good hand to but was unable to keep out.

Coleman chose his words carefully afterwards, perhaps mindful that the last thing he needed to be doing was issuing a public rollicking six days before Wales take on Slovakia in their opening group game at the finals. At the same time there was no way Coleman could sugarcoat the heaviest defeat Wales have suffered since being outclassed by Serbia in September 2013.

Wales looked vulnerable at the back and conceded their fifth set-piece goal in seven matches when Lustig had two bites at the cherry – Neil Taylor had cleared his first effort off the line – before turning the ball home. What a relief it must have been for Wales to see Ibrahimovic and Forsberg, who showed some lovely touches drifting in from the left flank, depart four minutes later.

In fairness to Wales, this was not their strongest starting XI. With Joe Allen and Joe Ledley back in the team – Coleman did not want to risk either – the defence should have more protection, while Hal Robson-Kanu’s pace will enable Wales to stretch teams in a way that Sam Vokes was never going to do against Sweden. Then, of course, there is the Bale factor.

This was the Real Madrid forward’s first appearance for his country in eight months, with Coleman deciding that he did not want to risk him from the start after he played 120 minutes in the Champions League final a week ago. That gave Ibrahimovic the platform to take centre stage and he looked in the mood to enjoy himself from the outset.

He nutmegged Chris Gunter on the edge of the area inside the first minute and David Vaughan fell victim to the same trick before half-time. In between those two moments of skill, Sweden’s talisman created the opening goal for Forsberg after nicking the ball ahead of Ashley Williams and carrying it into the left channel.

James Chester and Ashley Williams both tried to pursue Ibrahimovic and when Vaughan was also sucked towards the ball, the 34-year-old picked just the right moment to roll a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Forsberg, who swept a low 18-yard shot beyond Wayne Hennessey and into the corner.

Sweden were looking more and more confident and it felt like a matter of time before they added a second. Chester’s clearance denied Berg and Ben Davies made a last-ditch block to thwart Lustig after Ibrahimovic, Sebastian Larsson and Forsberg had combined to set up the Sweden right-back in what was the best move of the game. Lustig, though, was soon on the scoresheet when Wales failed to deal with Kim Kallstrom’s corner and at that point it looked as if it was turning into an exercise in damage limitation for Coleman’s team.

Bale’s introduction, three minutes after Ibrahimovic was withdrawn, at least gave Wales a threat going forward and for the first time in the game they started to attack with a bit of purpose. Emyr Huws, who has been left out of the 23-man squad for France, looked lively and his surging run down the left carved out the sniff of a chance for Bale. Yet Sweden were not finished at the other end, where Guidetti ensured that Erik Hamren’s team signed off for France in style. Whether any of it matters will soon become clear.