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Hosts Sweden set up a European U21 Championships semi-final clash with England after Marcus Berg's brace fired them to a 3-1 Group A win over nine-man Serbia in Malmo.

Fourth and fifth goals of the tournament from highly-rated Groningen forward Berg were added to by Ola Toivonen's second strike of the competition to put the Swedes through.

Hertha Berlin midfielder Gojco Kacar was on target for the Serbs, who played half the match a man short after Nenad Tomovic was shown a second yellow card in first-half injury time.

Slobodan Krcmarevic's ill-disciplined side played the last 20 minutes with nine men after Nikola Petkovic was given a straight red card for a forearm smash into the face of impressive PSV striker Toivonen.

Sweden's win means they finished second in Group A and will face Group B winners England in Gothenburg on Friday June 26 for a place in the final against Italy or Germany.

Serbia started well but Sweden took the lead on seven minutes when poor marking allowed Berg to drive a shot through the arms of keeper Zeljko Brkic.

It was 2-0 on the quarter hour after Tomovic picked up his first caution for fouling Emir Bajrami on the edge of the box.

Despite the offence appearing to take place just outside the area, referee Pedro Garcia controversially deemed it a penalty that Berg slid into the bottom right.

The Serbs pulled one back on 26 minutes when Kacar poked the ball into the net after Lyn Oslo keeper Johan Dahlin flapped at Ajax forward Miralem Sulejmani's corner.

But Sweden's two-goal lead was restored almost immediately when a counter-attack saw them cut through Serbia's defence and Toivonen slipped a cool finish into the bottom left.

A long-range effort from the otherwise quiet Manchester United reserve winger Zoran Tosic flew just over on 43 minutes after he cut in from the right, where he moved to as Serbia pushed for a goal.

Any hopes of a comeback were ended for though when Genoa defender Tomovic went late into Bajrami a minute into first-half stoppage time and received his second booking.

The second half was a scrappy, occasionally violent affair with a low drive just wide by Toivonen after a wonderful one-two with Berg the closest either side came to scoring.

Eintracht Frankfurt centre-half Petkovic's moment of madness brought a deserved dismissal and the match petered out to a comfortable win for Sweden.

Italy will play Germany in the other semi final after they beat Belarus 2-1.

Reda Maher / Eurosport