Venue: Malmo New Stadium Tuesday, June 16th 2009 Kick-Off:17:15 Subscribe to Sky Now

Hosts Sweden open their European Under-21's Championship campaign with a clash against Belarus on Tuesday afternoon in Malmo live on Sky Sports.

Sweden haven't played any competitive football since 2006, due to hosting the tournament, with their last competitive game ending in a 5-0 mauling at the hands of Serbia in qualifying for the 2007 tournament. The host face a tough group with Serbia and Italy also in their group, while the Swedes only previous experience of the eight team U21 Championships came in the 2004 tournament, in which they made it to the semi-finals.

Sweden know their supporters will turn up expecting a comforfable win but 'the curse of the hosts' will be a genuine concern. Only three of eight host nations have won their opening games since the introduction of the Euro U21 finals tournament in 1994, so they will have to upset an indisputably clear historic trend if they are to get a winning start.

Confidence shouldn't be a problem, though, as consecutive 2-1 wins over Estonia and Poland in their final two warm-up games over the past week will have put the players in the ideal frame of mind before the action gets under way.

The Swedes have some promising players in their squad with Groningen striker Marcus Berg rated as a player of great potential. Berg has scored over 30 goals in the Dutch Eredivisie in the last two seasons and will be a big threat to any opponent Sweden face. Midfielder Labinot Harbuzi who plays for Malmo is another player to look out for. He had a spell in Holland with Feyenoord, before returning home in 2006.

Belarus are the underdogs of the group, but they proved in qualifying that they are no pushovers. Belarus qualified for the tournament with a play-off victory over Turkey. They also defeated Hungary, Latvia and San Marino in the group stages. For Belarus this is their second European Under-21's Championship finals, after qualifying in 2004 and beating winners Italy 2-1 in the group stage.

The main danger man for the underdogs is Sergei Kryvets, who is top scorer in the Belarusian league with nine goals over the past two months, has already been capped at senior level and played in all six of FC BATE's Champions League games last autumn. He is the hub of the team, starting off attacks and also assists in breaking up opposition attacks.

Dave's Prediction:

Sweden 1 Belarus 1 @ 7.50 with Skybet