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Marcus Berg fired a hat-trick as Sweden came from behind to beat Belarus 5-1 in their opening European U21 Championship Group A game in Malmo.

The highly-rated Groningen goal poacher struck twice in six minutes at the end of the first half before adding a third in the 81st minute to get the hosts' tournament off to a flyer.

Sergei Kisliak had given Belarus the lead with a superb long-range effort just after the half-hour mark but Rasmus Elm's equaliser soon after set Sweden up for their impressive comeback.

Following Berg's impressive treble, Gustav Svensson added further gloss to the scoreline in the final minute with another cracking strike from 25 yards as Sweden set the early pace in Group A, which also contains Italy and Serbia.

A dull opening half hour in a far-from full stadium suddenly burst into life when Kisliak unleashed a sensational first-time effort from 25 yards that flew into the top right hand corner.

Moments earlier Emir Bajrami had wasted a great chance to put Sweden ahead, stabbing wide from Berg's lay-off when he should really have found the target, but the hosts responded well to going a goal down.

Ola Toivonen set Belarusian alarm bells ringing, putting over from Berg's excellent deep cross, before Elm found the back of the net a minute later to pull Sweden back on level terms.

There was an element of fortune about the goal - his 30-yard shot took a hefty deflection off Aleksandr Martynovich - but as the saying goes, you don't win the lottery without buying a ticket, and the Sweden midfielder was fittingly rewarded for his audacity.

Berg then announced himself at the tournament with two exceptional goals in the space of six minutes to send Sweden in at the break 3-1 up.

Both strikes bore the mark of a man very much in form - the 22-year-old netted top-scored for Groningen with 17 Eredivisie goals last season. Indeed, the first would not have been out of place in the back catalogue of one of Sweden's more celebrated exports, Internazionale striker Zlatan Ibrahmovic.

Berg received the ball from Bajrami on the edge of the area before bouncing off two Belarus challenges, rounding a third with his quick feet and slotting clinically past Pavel Chesnovski in the Belarus goal.

It was a superb example of clinical finishing, one that is sure to add a few noughts to his price with the likes of Everton, AZ Alkmaar and Lazio sniffing around this summer.

His second - Sweden's third - was no less impressive. This time Berg's strike partner Toivonen was the architect, clipping a pass through for him to run on to and blast a first-time volley low into the left-hand corner.

Toivonen, who toiled ceaselessly until his withdrawal on 84 minutes, had a goal disallowed before Elm nearly notched a second, his dink over the advancing keeper following Berg's neat stepover drifting just wide of the far post.

Berg's third was the least aesthetically pleasing goal of a bumper evening, but scouts will have been licking their lips at the way he found the back of the net after having reached Elm's through pass ahead of the opposition keeper and lobbed the ball into an unguarded net - sheer striker's instinct.

He could even had netted a fourth but his 87th minute diving header was clawed away by Chesnovsky.

Svensson completed the rout with a fantastic drive from 25 yards out, a strike that is sure to rival Kisliak's opener for the title of goal of the tournament come its conclusion at the end of the month.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport