Sweden better without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, says Andreas Granqvist

Sweden have lost one of the world's best footballers in Zlatan Ibrahimovic but they are a better team for his retirement, according to captain Andreas Granqvist.

Sweden face Switzerland in the World Cup last 16 here this afternoon and the winner will meet England or Colombia in the quarter-final.

Ibrahimovic, who joined LA Galaxy from Manchester United in March, is widely regarded as the greatest ever Swedish player, scoring 62 goals in over a century of caps before retiring from international football two years ago.

The 36-year-old hinted at a return before the tournament but a victory today would see Sweden progress further than they have since reaching the semi-final at USA '94.

"We’ve lost one of the world’s best football players," centre-back Granqvist said. "But with Janne [Andersson, Sweden coach], we’ve built, laid a foundation over the two years of qualification. We fight for each other, we’ve shown that very clearly as a team -- we can be very strong, we can get good results.

"Others have been allowed to take a step forward. We’ve lost one of the world’s best footballers, but we’ve done a good job and you can see that now we are in the final 16 of the World Cup."

Andersson's side has already seen off the Netherlands and Italy in qualifying and Germany in the group stage and he said: "Some results are truly fascinating and it shows the biggest nations will not win every time. That to me is a source of inspiration."

Meanwhile, Arsenal's Granit Xhaka has said he is too experienced to fall for Swedish provocation after defender Mikael Lustig vowed to get him sent off.

"My friends have told me what he said. It's no problem for me," the Swiss said. "It's part of the pre-match provocation but I've learned a lot in my time."